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1£tfjno=fficograpl)tc  Eeatier,  No.  2 


AMERICAN    INDIANS 


BY 

FREDERICK    STARR 
li 


D.    C.   HEATH   &    CO.,    PUBLISHERS 
BOSTON        NEW  YORK         CHICAGO 


BY    FREDERICK    STARR. 


No.   1.     STRANGE    PEOPLES.  40  CENTS. 

No.  2.     AMERICAN    INDIANS.  45  CENTS. 

No.  3.     HOW    MEN    DO.  IN  PREPARATION. 


D.  C.  HEATH   &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS. 


COPYRIGHT,  1898 
BY  FREDERICK  STARR 

I  D3 


THIS   LITTLE    BOOK   ABOUT 

AMERICAN    INDIANS 

IS   DEDICATED   TO 

BEDROS  TATARIAN 


285594 


PREFACE. 

THIS  book  about  American  Indians  is  intended 
as  a  reading  book  for  boys  and  girls  in  school. 
The  native  inhabitants  of  America  are  rapidly 
dying  off  or  changing.  Certainly  some  knowl 
edge  of  them,  their  old  location,  and  their  old  life 
ought  to  be  interesting  to  American  children. 

Naturally  the  author  has  taken  material  from 
many  sources.  He  has  himself  known  some 
thirty  different  Indian  tribes;  still  he  could  not 
possibly  secure  all  the  matter  herein  presented 
J3y  personal  observation.  In  a  reading  book  for 
children  it  is  impossible  to  give  reference  ac 
knowledgment  to  those  from  whom  he  has  drawn. 
By  a  series  of  brief  notes  attention  is  called  to 
those  to  whom  he  is  most  indebted :  no  one  is 
intentionally  omitted. 

While  many  of  the  pictures  are  new,  being 
drawn  from  objects  or  original  photographs,  some 
have  already  appeared  elsewhere.  In  each  case, 
their  source  is  indicated.  Special  thanks  for 
assistance  in  illustration  are  due  to  the  Bureau 
of  American  Ethnology  and  to  the  Peabody 
Museum  of  Ethnology  at  Cambridge,  Mass. 


VI  PREFACE. 


While  intended  for  young  people  and  written 
with  them  only  in  mind,  the  author  will  be  pleased 
if  the  book  shall  interest  some  older  readers. 
Should  it  do  so,  may  it  enlarge  their  sympathy 
with  our  native  Americans. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 


Some  General  Facts  about  Indians  i 

Houses     .  .                 .        7 

Dress        .  •       J4 
The  Baby  and  Child 

Stories  of  Indians 31 

War -39 

Hunting  and  Fishing  •       46 

The  Camp-fire  •       53 

Sign  Language  on  the  Plains    .  .                  .60 

Picture  Writing  •       65 

Money      .  73 

Medicine  Men  and  Secret  Societies  .  •       80 

Dances  and  Ceremonials  .  •       85 
Burial  and  Graves     .                           ....       92 

Mounds  and  their  Builders        .  •       98 

The  Algonkins  •     Io8 

The  Six  Nations       .  •     n5 

Story  of  Mary  Jemison      ...  .122 

The  Creeks       ...                  •  •     I28 

ThePani.         ...  •     134 

The  Cherokees  •     14° 

George  Catlin  and  his  Work     .  .147 

The  Sun  Dance        .  •     1S5 
vii 


Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

XXIV.     The  Pueblos .     161 

XXV.     The  Snake  Dance  ....  !68 

XXVI.     Cliff  Dwellings  and  Ruins  of  the  Southwest    .         .175 

XXVII.     Tribes  of  the  Northwest  Coast        .         .         .         .181 

XXVIII.     Some  Raven  Stories jgo 

XXIX.     Totem  Posts !oc 

XXX.     Indians  of  California      ....  201 

XXXI.     The  Aztecs 2oS 

XXXII.     The  Mayas  and  the  Ruined  Cities  of  Yucatan  and 

Central  America 215 

XXXIII.     Conclusion     ......  221 

GLOSSARY 22 

INDEX 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Mandan  Chief  in  Full  Dress    .  •      opposite         i 

Iroquois  Long  House 

Village  of  Pomeiock 

Winter  House  of  Sacs  and  Foxes    . 

Skin  Tents      . 

Skin  Jacket     . 

Moccasins       . 

Moccasins 

A  Pueblo  Woman   . 

Cradle  of  Oregon  Indians         .  23 

Birch-bark  Cradle  from  Yukon  River  .       23 

Blackfeet  Cradle      .  24 

Moki  Cradle   .  24 

Apache  Cradle         ...  25 

Hupa  Wicker  Cradle 

Cree  Squaw  and  Papoose         .  •       2^ 

Group  of  Ball  Sticks        .  •       29 

Indian  Spears,  Shield,  and  Quiver  of  Arrows  .         .  .40 

Apache  and  Sioux  Scalps         .  •       45 

Group  of  Weapons .  -49 

Birch-bark  Canoe    . 

Coracle   .... 

Smoke  Signaling     . 

Sign  Language 

Dakota  Calendar     .  .68 

Indian  Letter  on  Birch  Bark  •       7° 

Page  of  Aztec  Book 

Wampum  Belt 

Rattles  and  Mask    ....  .         .       81 

Scaffold  Burial .96 

ix 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 


Ojibwa  Gravepost 98 

Great  Serpent  Mound IO2 

Earthworks  at  Newark,  Ohio 104 

Shell  Gorgets IO6 

Ojibwa  Women  gathering  Wild  Rice no 

Blackfoot  Squaw  Traveling     .         .  .         .         .         .114 

Indian  Ball-player ^ 

Examples  of  Sequoyah's  Characters 147 

George  Catlin ^9 

Tortures  of  Mandan  Sun  Dance 159 

View  of  Pueblo,  Taos,  N.  M 162 

Pueblo  Pottery ^4 

Estufa  at  Cochiti,  N.  M ^5 

Moki  Snake  Dance 174 

Cliff  Ruins  at  Mancos  Canon 177 

Chinook  Baby  in  Cradle 183 

Tattooing  on  a  Haida  Man 184 

Gold  Chiefs  House 185 

Blanket  of  Chilcat  Indians,  Alaska 187 

Halibut  Hooks  of  Wood 188 

Indian  Carrier !<24 

Chiefs  House 196 

Hat  of  Indians  of  the  Northwest  Coast 200 

Granary  at  Coahuilla       ........  202 

Coiled  Baskets         .........  203 

Mission  of  Santa  Barbara,  Cal 206 

Calendar  Stone        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  212 

Stone  Idol       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .213 

Ruined  Building  at  Chichen  Itza 219 


MAPS. 

Former  Location  of  Indian  Groups  of  North  America     Frontispiece 
Indian  Reservations,  1897        ....      opposite  page     220 


MANDAN  CHIEF  IN   FULL  DRESS.      (AFTER  CATHN.) 


AMERICAN    INDIANS. 
I. 

SOME  GENERAL  FACTS  ABOUT  INDIANS. 

WE  all  know  how  the  native  Americans  found 
here  by  the  whites  at  their  first  arrival,  came  to 
be  called  Indians.  Columbus  did  not  realize  the 
greatness  of  his  discovery.  He  was  seeking  a 
route  to  Asia  and  supposed  that  he  had  found  it. 
Believing  that  he  had  really  reached  the  Indies, 
for  which  he  was  looking,  it  was  natural  that  the 
people  here  should  be  called  Indians. 

The  American  Indians  are  often  classed  as  a 
single  type.  They  are  described  as  being  of  a 
coppery  or  reddish-brown  color.  They  have 
abundant,  long,  straight,  black  hair,  and  each 
hair  is  found  to  be  almost  circular  when  cut 
across.  They  have  high  cheek-bones,  unusually 
prominent,  and  wide  faces.  This  description  will 
perhaps  fit  most  Indians  pretty  well,  but  it  would 
be  a  great  mistake  to  think  that  there  are  no  dif 
ferences  between  tribes  :  there  are  many.  There 
are  tribes  of  tall  Indians  and  tribes  of  short  ones ; 
some  that  are  almost  white,  and  others  that  are 
nearly  black.  There  are  found  among  them  all 

i 


2V  .AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

shades  of  brown,  some  of  which  are  reddish, 
others  yellowish.  There  are  tribes  where  the 
eyes  appear  as  oblique  or  slanting  as  in  the 
Chinese,  and  others  where  they  are  as  straight 
as  amonor  ourselves.  Some  tribes  have  heads 

o 

that  are  long  and  narrow ;  the  heads  of  others 
are  relatively  short  and  wide.  A  little  before  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition  thousands  of  In 
dians  of  many  different  tribes  were  carefully 
measured.  Dr.  Boas,  on  studying  the  figures, 
decided  that  there  were  at  least  four  different 
types  in  the  United  States. 

There  are  now  living  many  different  tribes  of 
Indians.  Formerly  the  number  of  tribes  was  still 
greater.  Each  tribe  has  its  own  language,  and 
several  hundred  different  Indian  languages  were 
spoken.  These  languages  sometimes  so  much 
resemble  each  other  that  they  seem  to  have  been 
derived  from  one  single  parent  language.  Thus, 
when  what  is  now  New  York  State  was  first  set 
tled,  it  was  largely  occupied  by  five  tribes  —  the 
Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  Senecas 
—  called  "the  Five  Nations."  While  they  were 
distinct  and  each  had  its  own  language,  these  were 
so  much  alike  that  all  are  believed  to  have  grown 
from  one.  When  languages  are  so  similar  that 
they  may  be  believed  to  have  come  from  one 
parent  language,  they  are  said  to  belong  to  the 
same  language  family  or  stock. 

The  Indians  of  New  England,  the  lower  Hud 
son  region,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  Vir- 


SOME  GENERAL  FACTS  ABOUT  INDIANS.  3 

ginia,  formed  many  different  tribes,  but  they  all 
spoke  languages  of  one  family.  These  tribes  are 
called  Algonkins.  Indians  speaking  languages 
belonging  to  one  stock  are  generally  related  in 
blood.  Besides  the  area  already  named,  Algonkin 
tribes  occupied  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  a 
part  of  Canada,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan, 
and  other  districts  farther  west.  The  Blackfeet, 
who  were  Algonkins,  lived  close  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  So  you  see  that  one  linguistic  family 
may  occupy  a  great  area.  On  the  other  hand, 
sometimes  a  single  tribe,  small  in  numbers  and 
occupying  only  a  little  space,  may  have  a  language 
entirely  peculiar.  Such  a  tribe  would  stand  quite 
alone  and  would  be  considered  as  unrelated  to 
any  other.  Its  language  would  have  to  be  con 
sidered  as  a  distinct  family  or  stock. 

A  few  years  ago  Major  Powell  published  a  map 
of  America  north  of  Mexico,  to  show  the  distribu 
tion  of  the  Indian  language  families  at  the  time 
of  the  white  settlement  of  this  country.  In  it  he 
represented  the  areas  of  fifty-eight  different  fam 
ilies  or  stocks.  Some  of  these  families,  like  the 
Algonquian  and  Athapascan,  occupied  great  dis 
tricts  and  contained  many  languages;  others,  like 
the  Zunian,  took  up  only  a  few  square  miles  of 
space  and  contained  a  single  tribe.  At  the  front 
of  this  book  is  a  little  map  partly  copied  from 
that  of  Major  Powell.  The  large  areas  are  nearly 
as  he  gave  them ;  many  smaller  areas  of  his  map 
are  omitted,  as  we  shall  not  speak  of  them.  The 


4  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

Indians  of  the  Pueblos  speak  languages  of  at  least 
four  stocks,  which  Major  Powell  indicates.  We 
have  covered  the  whole  Pueblo  district  with  one 
color  patch.  We  have  grouped  the  many  Cali 
fornian  tribes  into  one :  so,  too,  with  the  tribes  of 
the  Northwest  Coast.  There  are  many  widely 
differing  languages  spoken  in  each  of  these  two 
regions.  This  map  will  show  you  where  the 
Indians  of  whom  we  shall  speak  lived. 

Many  persons  seem  to  think  that  the  Indian 
was  a  perpetual  rover,  —  always  hunting,  fishing, 
and  making  war,  —  with  no  settled  villages.  This 
is  a  great  mistake:  most  tribes  knew  and  prac 
ticed  some  agriculture.  Most  of  them  had  set 
tled  villages,  wherein  they  spent  much  of  their 
time.  Sad  indeed  would  it  have  been  for  the 
early  settlers  of  New  England,  if  their  Indian 
neighbors  had  not  had  supplies  of  food  stored 
away  —  the  result  of  their  industry  in  the  fields. 

The  condition  of  the  woman  among  Indians  is 
usually  described  as  a  sad  one.  It  is  true  that  she 
was  a  worker  —  but  so  was  the  man.  Each  had 
his  or  her  own  work  to  do,  and  neither  would  have 
thought  of  doing  that  of  the  other ;  with  us,  men 
rarely  care  to  do  women's  work.  The  man  built 
the  house,  fortified  the  village,  hunted,  fished, 
fought,  and  conducted  the  religious  ceremonials 
upon  which  the  success  and  happiness  of  all 
depended.  The  woman  worked  in  the  field, 
gathered  wood,  tended  the  fire,  cooked,  dressed 
skins,  and  cared  for  the  children.  When  they 


SOME  GENERAL   FACTS  ABOUT   INDIANS.  5 

traveled,  the  woman  carried  the  burdens,  of  course : 
the  man  had  to  be  ready  for  the  attack  of  ene 
mies  or  for  the  killing  of  game  in  case  any  should 
be  seen.  Among  us  hunting,  fishing,  and  dan 
cing  are  sport.  They  were  not  so  with  the 
Indians.  When  a  man  had  to  provide  food  for 
a  family  by  his  hunting  and  fishing,  it  ceased  to 
be  amusement  and  was  hard  work.  When  Indian 
men  danced,  it  was  usually  as  part  of  a  religious 
ceremony  which  was  to  benefit  the  whole  tribe; 
it  was  often  wearisome  and  difficult — not  fun. 
Woman  was  much  of  the  time  doing  what  we 
consider  work;  man  was  often  doing  what  we 
consider  play;  there  was  not,  however,  really  much 
to  choose  between  them. 

The  woman  was  in  most  tribes  the  head  of  the 
house.  She  exerted  great  influence  in  public 
matters  of  the  tribe.  She  frequently  decided  the 
question  of  peace  and  war.  To  her  the  children 
belonged.  If  she  were  dissatisfied  with  her  hus 
band,  she  would  drive  him  from  the  house  and 
bid  him  return  to  his  mother.  If  a  man  were 
lazy  or  failed  to  bring  in  plenty  of  game  and  fish, 
he  was  quite  sure  to  be  cast  off. 

While  he  lived  his  own  life,  the  Indian  was 
always  hospitable.  The  stranger  who  applied  for 
shelter  or  food  was  never  refused ;  nor  was  he 
expected  to  pay.  Only  after  long  contact  with  the 
white  man,  who  always  wanted  pay  for  everything, 
did  this  hospitality  disappear.  In  fact,  among 
some  tribes  it  has  not  yet  entirely  gone.  One  time, 


6  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

as  we  neared  the  pueblo  of  Santo  Domingo,  New 
Mexico,  the  old  governor  of  the  pueblo  rode  out 
to  meet  us  and  learn  who  we  were  and  what  we 
wanted.  On  explaining  that  we  were  strangers, 
who  only  wished  to  see  the  town,  we  were  taken 
directly  to  his  house,  on  the  town  square.  His 
old  wife  hastened  to  put  before  us  cakes  and 
coffee.  After  we  had  eaten  we  were  given  full 
permission  to  look  around. 

We  shall  consider  many  things  together.  Some 
chapters  will  be  general  discussions  of  Indian  life ; 
others  will  discuss  special  tribes  ;  others  will  treat 
of  single  incidents  in  customs  or  belief.  Some 
of  the  things  mentioned  in  connection  with  one 
particular  tribe  would  be  equally  true  of  many 
others.  Thus,  the  modes  of  hunting  buffalo  and 
conducting  war,  practiced  by  one  Plains  tribe, 
were  much  the  same  among  Plains  tribes  gener 
ally.  Some  of  the  things  in  these  lessons  will 
seem  foolish  ;  others  are  terrible.  But  remember 
that  foreigners  who  study  MS  find  that  we  have 
many  customs  which  they  think  strange  and  even 
terrible.  The  life  of  the  Indians  was  not,  on  the 
whole,  either  foolish  or  bad ;  in  many  ways  it  was 
wise  and  beautiful  and  good.  But  it  will  soon  be 
gone.  In  this  book  we  shall  try  to  give  a  picture 
of  it. 

FRANZ  BOAS.  —  Anthropologist.  German,  living  in  America. 
Has  made  investigations  among  Eskimo  and  Indians.  Is  now 
connected  with  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New 
York. 


HOUSES.  7 

JOHN  WESLEY  POWELL.  —  Teacher,  soldier,  explorer,  scientist. 
Conducted  the  first  exploration  of  the  Colorado  River  Canon ; 
Director  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  and  of  the  Bureau  ot 
American  Ethnology.  Has  written  many  papers  :  among  them 
Indian  Linguistic  Families  of  America  North  of  Mexico. 


II. 

HOUSES. 

THE  houses  of  Indians  vary  greatly.  In  some 
tribes  they  are  large  and  intended  for  several 
families ;  in  others  they  are  small,  and  occupied 


IROQUOIS   LONG  HOUSE.      (AFTER   MORGAN.) 

by  few  persons.  Some  are  admirably  constructed, 
like  the  great  Pueblo  houses  of  the  southwest, 
made  of  stone  and  adobe  mud ;  others  are  frail 
structures  of  brush  and  thatch.  The  material 
naturally  varies  with  the  district. 

An  interesting  house  was  the  "  long  house  "  of 
the  Iroquois.  From  fifty  to  one  hundred  or  more 
feet  in  length  and  perhaps  not  more  than  fifteen 
in  width,  it  was  of  a  long  rectangular  form.  It 


8 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


consisted  of  a  light  framework  of  poles  tied  to 
gether,  which  was  covered  with  long  strips  of 
bark  tied  or  pegged  on.  There  was  no  window: 
but  there  was  a  doorway  at  each  end.  Blankets 
or  skins  hung  at  these  served  as  doors.  Through 
the  house  from  doorway  to  doorway  ran  a  central 

passage  :  the  space 
on  either  side  of 
this  was  divided 
by  partitions  of 
skins  into  a  series 
of  stalls,  each  of 
which  was  occu 
pied  by  a  family. 
In  the  central 
passage  was  a  se 
ries  of  fireplaces 
or  hearths,  each 
one  of  which 
served  for  four 


ALGONKIN  VILLAGE  OF  POMEIOCK,  ON  ALBE-         families.         A 

MARLE    SOUND,    IN    1585.        (AFTER    JOHN         -i  r    ,1    •       1    •        i 

WYTH  :   COPIED  IN   MORGAN.)  hOUSC  OI    thlS  Kind 

might  have  five  or 

even  more  hearths,  and  would  be  occupied  by 
twenty  or  more  families.  Indian  houses  con 
tained  but  little  furniture.  Some  blankets  or 
skins  served  as  a  bed  ;  there  were  no  tables  or 
chairs  ;  there  were  no  stoves,  as  all  cooking  was 
done  over  the  open  fire  or  the  fireplace. 

The  eastern  Algonkins  built  houses  like  those 
of  the  Iroquois,  but  usually  -much  smaller.    They, 


HOUSES.  9 

too,  were  made  of  a  light  framework  of  poles  over 
which  were  hung  sheets  of  rush  matting  which 
could  be  easily  removed  and  rolled  up,  for  future 
use  in  case  of  removal.  There  are  pictures  in  old 
books  of  some  Algonkin  villages. 

These  villages  were  often  inclosed  by  a  line  of 
palisades  to  keep  off  enemies.  Sometimes  the 
gardens  and  cornfields  were  inside  this  palisad 
ing,  sometimes  outside.  The  houses  in  these  pic 
tures  usually  have  straight,  vertical  sides  and  queer 
rounded  roofs.  Sometimes  they  were  arranged 
along  streets,  but  at  others  they  were  placed  in  a 
ring  around  a  central  open  space,  where  games 
and  celebrations  took  place. 

Many  tribes  have  two  kinds  of  houses,  one  for 
summer,  the  other  for  winter.  The  Sacs  and 
Foxes  of  Iowa,  in  summer,  live  in  large,  rectangu 
lar,  barn-like  structures.  These  measure  perhaps 
twenty  feet  by  thirty.  They  are  bark-covered  and 
have  two  doorways  and  a  central  passage,  some 
what  like  the  Iroquois  house.  But  they  are  not 
divided  by  partitions  into  sections.  On  each  side, 
a  platform  about  three  feet  high  and  six  feet  wide 
runs  the  full  length  of  the  house.  Upon  this  the 
people  sleep,  simply  spreading  out  their  blankets 
when  they  wish  to  lie  down.  Each  person  has 
his  proper  place  upon  the  platform,  and  no  one 
thinks  of  trespassing  upon  another.  At  the  back 
of  the  platform,  against  the  wall,  are  boxes,  baskets, 
and  bundles  containing  the  property  of  the  differ 
ent  members  of  the  household.  As  these  plat- 


10 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


forms  are  rather  high,  there  are  little  ladders 
fastened  into  the  earth  floor,  the  tops  of  which 
rest  against  the  edge  of  the  platform.  These  lad 
ders  are  simply  logs  of  wood,  with  notches  cut 
into  them  for  footholds. 

The  winter  house   is  very  different.       In  the 
summer  house  there  is  plenty  of  room  and  air; 


WINTER  HOUSE  OF  SACS  AND   FOXES,  JOWA.      (FROM   PHOTOGRAPH.) 

in  the  winter  house  space  is  precious.  The  frame 
work  of  the  winter  lodge  is  made  of  light  poles 
tied  together  with  narrow  strips  of  bark.  It  is  an 
oblong,  dome-shaped  affair  about  twenty  feet  long 
and  ten  wide.  Some  are  nearly  circular  and  about 
fifteen  feet  across.  They  are  hardly  six  feet%high. 
Over  this  framework  are  fastened  sheets  of  mat 
ting  made  of  cat-tail  rushes.  This  matting  is  very 
light  and  thin,  but  a  layer  or  two  of  it  keeps  out 


HOUSES.  1 1 

a  great  deal  of  cold.  There  is  but  one  doorway, 
usually  at  the  middle  of  the  side.  There  are  no 
platforms,  but  beds  are  made,  close  to  the  ground, 
out  of  poles  and  branches.  At  the  center  is  a 
fireplace,  over  which  hangs  the  pot  in  which  food 
is  boiled. 

The  Mandans  used  to  build  good  houses  almost 
circular  in  form.  The  floor  was  sunk  a  foot  or 
more  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  frame 
work  was  made  of  large  and  strong  timbers.  The 
outside  walls  sloped  inward  and  upward  from  the 
ground  to  a  height  of  about  five  feet.  They  were 
composed  of  boards.  The  roof  sloped  from  the 
top  of  the  wall  up  to  a  central  point ;  it  was  made 
of  poles,  covered  with  willow  matting  and  then 
with  grass.  The  whole  house,  wall  and  roof,  was 
then  covered  over  with  a  layer  of  earth  a  foot  and 
a  half  thick.  When  such  a  house  contained  a 
fire  sending  out  smoke,  it  must  have  looked  like 
a  smooth,  regularly  sloping  little  volcano. 

In  California,  where  there  are  so  many  different 
sorts  of  climate  and  surroundings,  the  Indian  tribes 
differed  much  in  their  house  building.  Where 
the  climate  was  raw  and  foggy,  down  near  the 
coast,  they  dug  a  pit  and  erected  a  shelter  of  red 
wood  poles  about  it.  In  the  snow  belt,  the  house 
was  conical  in  form  and  built  of  great  slabs  of 
bark.  In  warm  low  valleys,  large  round  or  oblong 
houses  were  made  of  willow  poles  covered  with 
hay.  At  Clear  Lake  there  were  box-shaped  houses  ; 
the  walls  were  built  of  vertical  posts,  with  poles 


12 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


lashed  horizontally  across  them ;  these  were  not 
always  placed  close  together,  but  so  as  to  leave 
many  little  square  holes  in  the  walls ;  the  flat  roof 
was  made  of  poles  covered  with  thatch.  In  the 
great  treeless  plains  of  the  Sacramento  and  San 
Joaquin  they  made  dome-shaped,  earth-covered 
houses,  the  doorway  in  which  was  sometimes  on 
top,  sometimes  near  the  ground  on  the  side.  In 
the  Kern  and  Tulare  valleys,  where  the  weather 


SKIN  TENTS.  (FROM  PHOTOGRAPH.) 

is  hot  and  almost  rainless,  the  huts  are  made  of 
marsh  rushes. 

Many  persons  seem  to  think  that  the  Indian 
never  changes ;  that  he  cannot  invent  or  devise 
new  things.  This  is  a  mistake.  Long  ago  the 
Dakotas  lived  in  houses  much  like  those  of  the 
Sacs  and  Foxes.  At  that  time  they  lived  in  Min 
nesota,  near  the  headwaters  of  the  Mississippi 
River.  From  the  white  man  they  received  horses, 


HOUSES.  1 3 

and  by  him  they  were  gradually  crowded  out  of 
their  old  home.  After  getting  horses  they  had 
a  much  better  chance  to  hunt  buffalo,  and  began 
to  move  about  much  more  than  before.  They 
then  invented  the  beautiful  tent  now  so  widely 
used  among  Plains  Indians.  The  framework  con 
sists  of  thirteen  poles  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  feet 
long.  The  smaller  ends  are  tied  together  and 
then  raised  and  spread  out  so  as  to  cover  a  circle 
on  the  ground  about  ten  feet  across.  Over  this 
framework  of  poles  are  spread  buffalo  skins  which 
have  been  sewed  together  so  as  to  fit  it.  The 
lower  end  of  this  skin  covering  is  then  pegged 
down  and  the  sides  are  laced  together  with  cords, 
so  that  everything  is  neat  and  tight.  There  is  a 
doorway  below  to  creep  through,  over  which  hangs 
a  flap  of  skin  as  a  door.  The  smoke-hole  at  the 
top  has  a  sort  of  collar-like  flap,  which  can  be 
adjusted  when  the  wind  changes  so  as  to  insure 
a  good  draught  of  air  at  all  times. 

This  sort  of  tent  is  easily  put  up  and  taken 
down.  It  is  also  easily  transported.  The  poles 
are  divided  into  two  bunches,  and  these  are 
fastened  by  one  end  to  the  horse,  near  his  neck 
—  one  bunch  on  either  side.  The  other  ends  are 
left  to  drag  upon  the  ground.  The  skin  covering 
is  tied  up  into  a  bundle  which  may  be  fastened 
to  the  dragging  poles.  Sometimes  dogs,  instead 
of  horses,  were  used  to  drag  the  tent  poles. 

Among  many  tribes  who  used  these  tents,  the 
camp  was  made  in  a  circle.  If  the  space  was  too 


14  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

small  for  one  great  circle,  the  tents  might  be 
pitched  in  two  or  three  smaller  circles,  one  within 
another.  These  camp  circles  were  not  chance 
arrangements.  Each  group  of  persons  who  were 
related  had  its  own  proper  place  in  the  circle. 
Even  the  proper  place  for  each  tent  was  fixed. 
Every  woman  knew,  as  soon  as  the  place  for  a 
camp  was  chosen,  just  where  she  must  erect  her 
tent.  She  would  never  think  of  putting  it  else 
where.  After  the  camp  circle  was  complete,  the 
horses  would  be  placed  within  it  for  the  night  to 
prevent  their  being  lost  or  stolen. 

LEWIS  H.  MORGAN.  —  Lawyer.  One  of  America's  earliest 
eminent  ethnologists.  A  special  student  of  society  and  insti 
tutions.  Author  of  important  books,  among  them,  Houses  and 
House-life  of  the  American  Aborigines,  and  The  League  of  the 
Iroquois. 

STEPHEN  POWERS.  —  Author  of  The  Indians  of  California. 


III. 

DRESS. 

IN  the  eastern  states  and  on  the  Plains  the 
dress  of  the  Indians  was  largely  composed  of 
tanned  and  dressed  skins  such  as  those  of  the 
buffalo  and  the  deer.  Most  of  the  Indians  were 
skilled  in  dressing  skins.  The  hide  when  fresh 
from  the  animal  was  laid  on  the  ground,  stretched 
as  tightly  as  possible  and  pegged  down  all  around 
the  edges.  As  it  dried  it  became  still  more  taut. 


.    DRESS.  15 

A  scraper  was  used  to  remove  the  fat  and  to 
thin  the  skin.  In  old  days  this  scraper  was  made 
of  a  piece  of  bone  cut  to  proper  form,  or  of  a 
stone  chipped  to  a  sharp  edge ;  in  later  times  it 
was  a  bone  handle,  with  a  blade  of  iron  or  steel 
attached  to  it.  Brains,  livers,  and  fat  of  animals 
were  used  to  soften  and  dress  the  skin.  These 
materials  were  mixed  together  and  spread  over 
the  stretched  skin,  which  was  then  rolled  up  and 
laid  aside.  After  several  days,  when  the  materials 
had  soaked  in  and  somewhat  softened  the  skin, 
it  was  opened  and  washed :  it  was  then  rubbed, 
twisted,  and  worked  over  until  soft  and  fully 
dressed. 

The  men  wore  three  or  four  different  articles 
of  dress.  First  was  the  breech-clout,  which  con 
sisted  of  a  strip  of  skin  or  cloth  perhaps  a  foot 
wide  and  several  feet  long ;  sometimes  its  ends 
were  decorated  with  beadwork  or  other  ornamen 
tation.  This  cloth  was  passed  between  the  legs 
and  brought  up  in  front  and  behind.  It  was  held 
in  place  by  a  band  or  belt  passing  around  the 
waist,  and  the  broad  decorated  ends  hung  down 
from  this  something  like  aprons.  Almost  all 
male  Indians  on  the  continent  wore  the  breech- 
clout. 

The  men  also  wore  buckskin  leggings.  These 
were  made  in  pairs,  but  were  not  sewed  together. 
They  fitted  tightly  over  the  whole  length  of  the 
leg,  and  sometimes  were  held  up  by  a  cord  at  the 
outer  upper  corner,  which  was  tied  to  the  waist- 


i6 


AMERICAN  INDIANS. 


string.  Leggings  were  usually  fringed  with 
strips  of  buckskin  sewed  along  the  outer  side. 
Sometimes  bands  of  beadwork  were  tied  around 
the  leggings  below  the  knees. 

A  jacket  or  shirt 
made   of  buckskin 
and     reaching     to 
the  knees  was  gen 
erally  worn.    It  was 
variously     deco 
rated.        Buckskin 
strip    fringes    bor 
dered    it ;    pictures 
in  black  or  red  or  other 
colors  were  painted  upon 
it ;     handsome     patterns 
were  worked  into  it  with 
beads  or  porcupine  quills, 
brightly    dyed ;    tufts    of 
hair  or  true  scalps  might 
be  attached  to  it. 

Over  all  these  came  the 
blanket  or  robe.     Nowa- 

da?s  these  are  got.fr°m 

the  whites,  and  are  simple 
flannel  blankets ;  but  in  the  old  times  they  were 
made  of  animal  hides.  In  putting  on  a  blanket, 
the  male  Indian  usually  takes  it  by  two  corners, 
one  in  each  hand,  and  folds  it  around  him  with 
the  upper  edge  horizontal.  Holding  it  thus  a 
moment  with  one  hand,  he  catches  the  sides,  a 


SKIN 


DRESS.  17 

little  way  down,  with  the  fingers  of  the  other 
hand,  and  thus  holds  it. 

Even  where  the  men  have  given  up  the  old 
style  of  dress  the  women  often  retain  it.  The 
garments  are  usually  made,  however,  of  cloth  in 
stead  of  buckskin.  Thus  among  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  the  leggings  of  the  women,  which  used 
to  be  made  of  buckskin,  are  now  of  black  broad 
cloth.  They  are  made  very  broad  or  wide,  and 
reach  only  from  the  ankles  to  a  little  above  the 
knees.  They  are  usually  heavily  beaded.  The 
woman's  skirt,  fastened  at  the  waist,  falls  a  little 
below  the  knees;  it  is  made  of  some  bright  cloth 
and  is  generally  banded  near  the  bottom  with 
tape  or  narrow  ribbon  of  a  different  color  from 
the  skirt  itself.  Her  jacket  is  of  some  bright 
cloth  and  hangs  to  the  waist.  Often  it  is  deco 
rated  with  brooches  or  fibulae  made  of  German 
silver.  I  once  saw  a  little  girl  ten  years  old 
who  was  dancing,  in  a  jacket  adorned  with  nearly 
three  hundred  of  these  ornaments  placed  close 
together. 

All  Indians,  both  men  and  women,  are  fond  of 
necklaces  made  of  beads  or  other  material.  Men 
love  to  wear  such  ornaments  composed  of  trophies, 
showing  that  they  have  been  successful  in  war 
or  in  hunting.  They  use  elk  teeth,  badger  claws, 
or  bear  claws  for  this  purpose.  One  very  dread 
ful  necklace  in  Washington  is  made  chiefly  of 
the  dried  fingers  of  human  victims.  Among  the 
Sacs  and  Foxes,  the  older  men  use  a  neck-ring 


1 8  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

that  looks  like  a  rope  of  solid  beads.  It  consists 
of  a  central  rope  made  of  rags ;  beads  are  strung 
on  a  thread  and  this  is  wrapped  around  and 
around  the  rag  ring,  until  when  finished  only 
beads  can  be  seen. 

Before  the  white  man  carrje,  the  Indians  used 
beads  made  of  shell,  stone,  or  bone.  Nowadays 
they  are  fond  of  the  cheap  glass  beads  which 
they  get  from  white  traders.  There  are  two  kinds 
of  beadwork  now  made.  The  first  is  the  simpler. 
It  is  sewed  work.  Patterns  of  different  colored 
beads  are  worked  upon  a  foundation  of  cloth. 
Moccasins,  leggings,  and  jackets  are  so  decorated; 
sometimes  the  whole  article  may  be  covered  with 
the  bright  beads.  Almost  every  one  has  seen 
tobacco-pouches  or  baby-frames  covered  with  such 
work.  The  other  work  is  far  more  difficult.  It 
is  used  in  making  bands  of  beads  for  the  arms, 
legs,  and  waist.  It  is  true  woven  work  of  the 
same  sort  as  the  famous  wampum  belts,  of  which 
we  shall  speak  later.  Such  bands  look  like  solid 
beads  and  present  the  same  patterns  on  both 
sides. 

The  porcupine  is  an  animal  that  is  covered 
with  spines  or  "quills."  These  quills  were  for 
merly  much  used  in  decorating  clothing.  They 
were  often  dyed  in  bright  colors.  After  being 
colored  they  were  flattened  by  pressure  and  were 
worked  into  pretty  geometrical  designs,  color- 
bands,  rosettes,  etc.,  upon  blankets,  buckskin  shirts, 
leggings,  and  moccasins.  Very  little  of  this  work 


DRESS.  19 

has  been  done  of  late  years:  bead  work  has  almost 
crowded  it  out  of  use. 

The  moccasin  is  a  real  Indian  invention,  and  it 
bears  an  Indian  name.  It  is  the  most  comforta 
ble  foot-wear  that  could  be  devised  for  the  Indian 
mode  of  life.  It  is  made  of  buckskin  and  closely 
fits  the  foot.  Moccasins  usually  reach  only  to 
the  ankle,  and  are  tied  close  with  little  thongs  of 
buckskin.  They  have  no  heels,  and  no  part  is 


BLACKFOOT 
MOCCASIN. 

(FROM   ORIGINALS  IN  PEABODY   MUSEUM.) 

stiff  or  unpleasant  to  the  foot.  The  exact  shape 
of  the  moccasin  and  its  decoration  varies  with  the 
tribe. 

In  some  tribes  there  is  much  difference  between 
the  moccasins  of  men  and  those  of  women. 
Among  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  the  woman's  mocca 
sin  has  two  side  flaps  which  turn  down  and  nearly 
reach  the  ground;  these,  as  well  as  the  part  over 
the  foot,  are  covered  with  a  mass  of  beading;  the 
man's  moccasin  has  smaller  side  flaps,  and  the 


20 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


only  beading  upon  it  is  a  narrow  band  running 
lengthwise  along  the  middle  part  above  the  foot. 

The  women  of  the  Pueblos  are  not  content 
with  simple  moccasins,  but  wrap  the  leg  with 
strips  of  buckskin.  This  wrapping  covers  the 
leg  from  the  ankles  to  the  knees  and  is  heavy  and 
thick,  as  the  strips  are  wound  time  after  time 
around  the  leg.  At  first,  this  wrapping  looks 
awkward  and  ugly  to  a  stranger,  but  he  soon 
becomes  accustomed  to  it. 


OMAHA  IROQUOIS  KUTCHIN 

MOCCASIN.  MOCCASIN.  MOCCASIN. 

(FROM   ORIGINALS   IN   PEABODY   MUSEUM.) 

Not  many  of  the  tribes  were  real  weavers. 
Handsome  cotton  blankets  and  kilts  were  woven 
by  the  Moki  and  other  Pueblo  Indians.  Such 
are  still  made  by  these  tribes  for  their  religious 
ceremonies  and  dances.  Nowadays  these  tribes 
have  flocks  of  sheep  and  know  how  to  weave 
good  woollen  blankets.  Some  of  the  Pueblos 
also  weave  long,  handsome  belts,  in  pretty  pat 
terns  of  bright  colors.  Their  rude  loom  consists 
of  just  a  few  sticks,  but  it  serves  its  purpose 


DRESS. 


21 


well,  and  the  blankets  and  belts 
are  firm  and  close. 

The  Navajo,  who  are  neigh 
bors  of   the    Pueblos,  learned 
how  to  weave  from  them,  but 
are  to-day  much  better  weavers 
than  their  teachers.    Every  one 
knows  the  Navajo  blankets, 
with     their     bright    colors, 
pretty  designs,  and  texture  so 
close  as  to  shed  water. 

Some  tribes  of   British 
Columbia  weave  soft  capes 
or  cloaks  of  cedar  bark, 
and  in  Alaska  the  Chil- 
cat  Indians  weave  beau 
tiful  blankets  of  moun 
tain-sheep  wool    and      ^3 
mountain-goat     hair. 
These  are  a  mass  of 
odd,    strikingly    col 
ored,  and  crowdedly 
arranged       symbolic 
devices. 

Among  some  Califor 
nia  Indians  the  women  wore  dresses  made  of 
grass.  They  were  short  skirts  or  kilts,  consisting 
of  a  waist-band  from  which  hung  a  fringe  of 
grass  cords.  They  had  nuts  and  other  objects 
ornamentally  inserted  into  the  cords.  They 
reached  about  to  the  knees. 


A  PUEBLO  WOMAN.      (FROM  MORGAN.) 


22  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

IV. 

THE   BABY   AND   CHILD. 

INDIAN  babies  are  often  pretty.  Their  big 
black  eyes,  brown,  soft  skin,  and  their  stiff, 
strong,  black  hair  form  a  pleasing  combination. 
Among  many  tribes  their  foreheads  are  covered 
with  a  fine,  downy  growth  of  black  hair,  and 
their  eyes  appear  to  slant,  like  those  of  the 
Chinese.  The  little  fellows  hardly  ever  cry, 
and  an  Indian  parent  rarely  strikes  a  child, 
even  when  it  is  naughty,  which  is  not  often. 

Most  Indian  babies  are  kept  strapped  or  laid 
on  a  papoose-board  or  cradle-board.  While  these 
are  widely  used,  they  differ  notably  among  the 
tribes.  Among  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  the  cradle 
consists  of  a  board  two  feet  or  two  and  a  half 
feet  long  and  about  ten  inches  wide.  Near  the 
lower  end  is  fastened,  by  means  of  thongs,  a  thin 
board  set  edgewise  and  bent  so  as  to  form  a 
foot-rest  and  sides.  Over  the  upper  end  is  a 
thin  strip  of  board  bent  to  form  an  arch.  This 
rises  some  eight  inches  above  the  cradle-board. 
Upon  the  board,  below  this  arch,  is  a  little 
cushion  or  pillow.  The  baby,  wrapped  in  cloths 
or  small  blankets,  his  arms  often  being  bound 
down  to  his  sides,  is  laid  down  upon  the  cradle- 
board,  with  his  head  lying  on  the  pillow  and 
his  feet  reaching  almost  to  the  foot-board.  He 


THE   BABY  AND   CHILD.  23 

is  then  fastened  securely  in  place  by  bandages 
of  cloth  decorated  with  beadwork  or  by  laces 
or  thongs.  There  he  lies  "as  snug  as  a  bug 
in  a  rug,"  ready  to  be  carried  on  his  mother's 
back,  or  to  be  set  up  against  a  wall,  or  to  be 
hung  up  in  a  tree. 

When  his  mother  is  busy  at  work,  the   little 


CRADLE  OF  OREGON   INDIANS.  BIRCH-BARK  CRADLE  FROM  YUKON 

(AFTER   MASON.)  RIVER,   ALASKA. 

one  is  unwrapped  so  as  to  set  his  arms  and 
hands  free,  and  is  then  laid  upon  the  blankets 
and  cloths,  and  left  to  squirm  and  amuse  him 
self  as  best  he  can. 

The  mother  hangs  all  sorts  of  beads  and 
bright  and  jingling  things  to  the  arch  over  the 
baby's  head.  When  he  lies  strapped  down,  the 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


mother  sets  all  these  things  to  jingling,  and 
the  baby  lies  and  blinks  at  them  in  great  won 
der.  When  his  little  hands  are  free  to  move, 
the  baby  himself  tries  to  strike  and  handle  the 
bright  and  noisy  things. 

In  the   far  north    the   baby-board    is  made  of 


BLACKFEET  CRADLE,  MADE  OF  LAT-  MOKI  CRADLE  :    FRAME  OF  FINE 

TICE-WORK  AND  LEATHER.  WICKER. 

(AFTER  MASON.) 

birch  bark  and  has  a  protecting  hood  over  the 
head;  among  some  tribes  of  British  Columbia, 
it  is  dug  out  of  a  single  piece  of  wood  in  the 
form  of  a  trough  or  canoe ;  among  the  Chinooks 
it  has  a  head-flattening  board  hinged  on,  by 
which  the  baby's  head  is  changed  in  form ;  one 
baby-board  from  Oregon  was  shaped  like  a  great 


THE  BABY   AND   CHILD. 


arrowhead,  covered  with  buckskin,  with  a  sort  of 
pocket  in  front  in  which  the  little  fellow  was 
laced  up ;  among  some  tribes  in  California,  the 
cradle  is  made  of  basket  work  and  is  shaped 
like  a  great  moccasin ;  some  tribes  of  the  south 
west  make  the  cradle  of  canes  or  slender  sticks 


APACHE  CRADLE. 


HUPA  WICKER  CRADLE. 


(AFfER  MASON.) 


set  side  by  side  and  spliced  together;  among 
some  Sioux  the  cradle  is  covered  completely  at 
the  sides  with  pretty  beadwork,  and  two  slats 
fixed  at  the  edges  project  far  beyond  the  upper 
end  of  the  cradle. 

But  the  baby  is  not  always  kept  down  on  the 
cradle-board.  Sometimes  among  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  he  is  slung  in  a  little  hammock,  which 


26 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


is    quickly    and    easily    made.       Two    cords   are 
stretched   side    by   side   from    tree    to    tree.     A 


CREE  SQUAW  AND   PAPOOSE.      (FROM   PHOTOGRAPH.) 

blanket  is  then  folded  until  its  width  is  little 
more  than  the  length  of  the  baby;  its  ends  are 
then  folded  around  the  cords  and  made  to  over- 


THE   BABY   AND    CHILD.  2? 

lap  midway  between  them.  After  the  cords  aVe 
up,  a  half  a  minute  is  more  than  time  enough 
to  make  a  hammock  out  of  a  blanket.  And  a 
more  comfortable  little  pouch  for  a  baby  could 
not  be  found. 

Among  the  Pueblos  they  have  a  swinging 
cradle.  It  consists  of  a  circular  or  oval  ring 
made  of  a  flexible  stick  bent  and  tied  together 
at  the  ends.  Leather  thongs  are  laced  back  and 
forth  across  it  so  as  to  make  an  open  netting. 
The  cradle  is  then  hung  from  the  rafters  by  cords. 
In  it  the  baby  swings. 

The  baby  who  is  too  large  for  his  baby-board 
is  carried  around  on  his  mother's  or  sister's,  or 
even  his  brother's,  back.  The  little  wriggler  is 
laid  upon  the  back,  and  then  the  blanket  is  bound 
around  him  to  hold  him  firmly,  often  leaving 
only  his  head  in  sight,  peering  out  above  the 
blanket.  With  her  baby  fastened  upon  her  back 
in  this  way  the  mother  works  in  the  fields  or 
walks  to  town. 

Among  some  tribes,  particularly  in  the  south 
ern  states  and  in  Mexico,  the  baby  strides  the 
mother's  back,  and  a  little  leg  and  foot  hang  out 
on  either  side  from  the  blanket  that  holds  him 
in  place.  Among  some  tribes  in  California  the 
wTomen  use  great  round  baskets  tapering  to  a 
point  below ;  these  are  carried  by  the  help  of 
a  carrying  strap  passing  around  the  forehead. 
During  the  season  of  the  salmon  fishing  these 
baskets  are  used  in  carrying  fish ;  at  such  times 


28  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

baby  and  fish  are  thrown  into  the  basket  together 
and  carried  along. 

The  Indian  boys  play  many  games.  When  I 
used  to  meet  Sac  and  Fox  boys  in  the  spring 
time,  each  one  used  to  have  with  him  little  sticks 
made  of  freshly  cut  branches  of  trees.  These 
had  the  bark  peeled  off  so  they  would  slip  better. 
They  were  cut  square  at  one  end,  and  bluntly 
pointed  at  the  other.  Each  boy  had  several  of 
these,  so  marked  that  he  would  know  his  own. 
When  two  boys  agreed  to  play,  one  held  one  of 
his  sticks,  which  was  perhaps  three  feet  long  and 
less  than  half  an  inch  thick,  between  his  thumb 
and  second  finger,  with  the  forefinger  against  the 
squared  end  and  the  pointed  end  forward.  He 
then  sent  it  sliding  along  on  the  grass  as  far  as  it 
would  go.  Then  the  other  boy  took  his  turn, 
trying  of  course  to  send  his  farther. 

The  young  men  have  a  somewhat  similar  game, 
but  their  sticks  are  carefully  made  of  hickory  and 
have  a  blunt-pointed  head  and  a  long  slender  tail 
or  shaft.  These  will  skim  a  long  way  over  snow 
when  it  has  a  crust  upon  it. 

One  gambling  game  is  much  played  by  big 
boys  and  young  men  among  the  Sacs  and  Foxes. 
It  is  called  moccasin.  It  is  a  very  stupid  game, 
but  the  Indians  are  fond  of  it.  Some  moccasins 
are  turned  upside  down,  and  one  player  con 
ceals  under  one  of  them  a  small  ball  or  other 
object.  Another  tries  then  to  guess  where  the 
ball  lies. 


THE  BABY  AND   CHILD.  2Q 

Many  of  the  Indian  tribes  had  some  form  of 
ball  game.  Sometimes  all  the  young  men  of  a 
town  would  take  part.  The  game  consisted  in 
driving  the  ball  over  a  goal.  The  players  on 
both  sides  were  much  in  earnest,  and  the  games 
were  very  exciting.  In  the  play  a  racket  was 
used  consisting  of  a  stick  frame  and  a  netting  of 


Sac  and  Fox. 


Winnebago. 


GROUP  OF  BALL  STICKS. 

thongs.  The  shape  of  this  racket  or  ball  stick 
differed  among  different  tribes.  Sometimes  one 
racket  was  used  by  one  player,  sometimes  two. 
Among  the  Iroquois  the  game  is  called  by  the 
French  name  of  lacrosse.  The  young  men  of  one 
village  often  played  against  those  of  another. 
They  used  a  curious  long  racket  consisting  of  a 
curved  stick  with  netting  across  the  bend.  The 


30  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

Choctaws,  Cherokees,  and  other  tribes  near  them 
have  two  rackets  for  each  player. 

Catlin  tells  us  that  in  their  games  there  would 
sometimes  be  six  to  eight  hundred  or  a  thousand 
young  men  engaged.  He  says :  "  I  have  made 
it  an  uniform  rule,  whilst  in  the  Indian  country, 
to  attend  every  ball-play  I  could  hear  of,  if  I  could 
do  it  by  riding  a  distance  of  twenty  or  thirty 
miles  ;  and  my  usual  custom  has  been  on  such 
occasions  to  straddle  the  back  of  my  horse  and 
look  on  to  the  best  advantage.  In  this  way  I 
have  sat,  and  oftentimes  reclined  and  almost 
dropped  from  my  horse's  back,  with  irresistible 
laughter  at  the  succession  of  droll  tricks  and 
kicks  and  scurries  which  ensue,  in  the  almost 
superhuman  struggles  for  the  ball.  Their  plays 
generally  commence  at  about  nine  o'clock,  or 
near  it,  in  the  morning;  and  I  have  more  than 
once  balanced  myself  on  my  pony  from  that 
time  till  nearly  sundown,  without  more  than  one 
minute  of  intermission  at  a  time,  before  the  game 
has  been  decided." 

But  these  great  games  of  ball  with  hundreds  of 
players  are  quite  past,  and  the  sport,  where  still 
kept  up,  grows  less  and  less  each  year. 

OTIS  T.  MASON.  —  Ethnologist.  In  charge  of  the  depart 
ment  of  Ethnology  in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  Washington. 
Has  written  some  books  and  many  articles.  Among  the  last 
is  Cradles  of  the  American  Aborigines. 

GEORGE  CATLIN.  —  Artist  and  traveler.     See  XXII. 


STORIES   OF  INDIANS.  31 

V. 

STORIES. OF   INDIANS. 

THE  Indians  everywhere  are  fond  of  stories. 
Some  of  their  stories  are  about  themselves  and 
their  own  deeds ;  others  recount  the  past  deeds 
of  the  tribe ;  many  are  about  some  wise  and  good 
man,  who  lived  long  ago,  and  who  taught  them 
how  they  should  live  and  what  dances  and  cere 
monies  they  should  perform  ;  some  are  attempts 
to  explain  why  things  are  as  they  are ;  others  tell 
of  the  creation  of  the  world. 

Of  these  many  stories  some  may  be  told  at  any 
time  and  anywhere,  while  others  are  sacred  and 
must  only  be  told  to  certain  persons  on  particular 
occasions.  Among  some  tribes  the  "  old  stories  " 
must  not  be  told  in  the  summer  when  the  trees 
are  full  of  green  leaves,  for  the  spirits  of  the 
leaves  can  listen ;  but  when  winter  comes,  and 
snow  lies  on  the  ground,  and  the  leaves  have 
fallen,  and  the  trees  appear  to  be  dead,  then 
they  may  tell  their  stories  about  the  camp-fire 
in  safety.  We  can  give  only  a  few  of  these 
stories  from  three  different  tribes. 

AN    IROQUOIS    STORY    OF    THE    PLEIADES. 

You  all  know  the  stars  that  are  called  the 
Pleiades.  Sometimes,  but  wrongly,  they  are 
called  the  Little  Dipper.  They  are  a  group  of 


32  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

seven  little  stars  that  look  as  if  they  were  quite 
close  together. 

The  Iroquois  tell  this  story  about  them: 
There  were  once  seven  little  Indian  boys  who 
were  great  friends.  Every  evening  they  used  to 
come  to  a  little  mound  to  dance  and  feast. 
They  would  first  eat  their  corn  and  beans,  and 
then  one  of  their  number  would  sit  upon  the 
mound  and  sing,  while  the  others  danced  around 
the  mound.  One  time  they  thought  they  would 
have  a  much  grander  feast  than  usual,  and  each 
agreed  upon  what  he  would  bring  for  it.  But 
their  parents  would  not  give  them  what  they 
wanted,  and  the  little  lads  met  at  the  mound 
without  their  feast.  The  singer  took  his  place 
and  began  his  song,  while  his  companions  started 
to  dance.  As  they  danced  they  forgot  their  sor 
rows  and  "  their  heads  and  hearts  grew  lighter," 
until  at  last  they  flew  up  into  the  air.  Their 
parents  saw  them  as  they  rose,  and  cried  out  to 
them  to  return ;  but  up  and  up  they  went  until 
they  were  changed  into  the  seven  stars.  Now, 
one  of  the  Pleiades  is  dimmer  than  the  rest,  and 
they  say  that  it  is  the  little  singer,  who  is  home 
sick  and  pale  because  he  wants  to  return  but 
cannot. 

A    STORY    OF    GLOOSKAP. 

The  Algonkin  tribes  of  Nova  Scotia,  Canada, 
and  New  England  had  a  great  many  stones 
about  a  great  hero  named  Glooskap.  They  be- 


STORIES  OF  INDIANS.  33 

lieved  he  was  a  great  magician  and  could  do 
wonders.  In  stories  about  him  it  is  common  to 
have  him  strive  with  other  magicians  to  see 
which  one  can  do  the  greatest  wonders  and  over 
power  the  other.  Glooskap  always  comes  out 
ahead  in  these  strange  contests. 

Usually  Glooskap  is  good  to  men,  but  only 
when  they  are  true  and  honest.  He  used  to 
give  people  who  visited  him  their  wish.  But 
if  they  were  bad,  their  wish  would  do  them  far 
more  harm  than  good. 

One  of  the  Glooskap  stories  tells  of  how  he 
fought  with  some  giant  sorcerers  at  Saco. 
There  was  an  old  man  who  had  three  sons 
and  a  daughter.  They  were  all  giants  and 
great  magicians.  They  did  many  wicked  things, 
and  killed  and  ate  every  one  they  could  get  at. 
It  happened  that  when  he  was  young,  Glooskap 
had  lived  in  this  family,  but  then  they  were  not 
bad.  When  he  heard  of  their  dreadful  ways  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  go  and  see  if  it  was  all 
true,  and  if  it  were  so,  to  punish  them.  So  he 
went  to  the  house.  The  old  man  had  only  one 
eye,  and  the  hair  on  one  half  of  his  head  was 
gray.  The  first  thing  Glooskap  did  was  to 
change  himself  so  that  he  looked  exactly  like 
the  old  man;  no  one  could  tell  which  was  which. 
And  they  sat  talking  together.  The  sons,  hear 
ing  them,  drew  near  to  kill  the  stranger,  but 
could  not  tell  which  was  their  father,  so  they 
said,  "  He  must  be  a  great  magician,  but  we 


34  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

will  get  the  better  of  him."  So  the  sister  giant 
took  a  whale's  tail,  and  cooking  it,  offered  it  to 
the  stranger.  Glooskap  took  it.  Then  the  eldest 
brother  came  in,  and  seizing  the  food,  said,  "  This 
is  too  good  for  a  beggar  like  you." 

Glooskap  said,  "  What  is  given  to  me  is  mine : 
I  will  take  it."  And  he  simply  wished  and  it 
returned. 

The  brothers  said,  "  Indeed  he  is  a  great 
magician,  but  we  will  get  the  better  of  him." 

So  when  he  was  through  eating,  the  eldest 
brother  took  up  the  mighty  jawbone  of  a  whale, 
and  to  show  that  he  was  strong  bent  it  a  little. 
But  Glooskap  took  it  and  snapped  it  in  two  be- 
between  his  thumb  and  finger.  And  the  giant 
brothers  said  again,  "  Indeed  he  is  a  great  magi 
cian,  but  we  will  get  the  better  of  him." 

Then  they  tested  him  with  strong  tobacco 
which  no  one  but  great  magicians  could  possibly 
smoke.  Each  took  a  puff  and  inhaled  it  and  blew 
the  smoke  out  through  his  nose  to  show  his 
strength.  But  Glooskap  took  the  great  pipe  and 
filled  it  full,  and  at  a  single  puff  burnt  all  the 
tobacco  to  ashes  and  inhaled  all  the  smoke  and 
puffed  it  out  through  his  nostrils. 

When  they  were  beaten  at  smoking,  the  giants 
proposed  a  game  of  ball  and  went  out  into  the 
sandy  plain  by  the  riverside.  And  the  ball  they 
used  was  thrown  upon  the  ground.  It  was  really 
a  dreadful  skull,  that  rolled  and  snapped  at  Gloos- 
kap's  heels,  and  if  he  had  been  a  common  man  or 


STORIES  OF  INDIANS.  35 

a  weak  magician  it  would  have  bitten  his  foot  off. 
But  Glooskap  laughed  and  broke  off  a  tip  of  a 
tree  branch  for  his  ball  and  set  it  to  rolling.  And 
it  turned  into  a  skull  ten  times  more  dreadful 
than  the  other,  and  it  chased  the  wicked  giants  as 
a  lynx  chases  a  rabbit.  As  they  fled  Glooskap 
stamped  upon  the  sand  with  his  foot,  and  sang  a 
magic  song.  And  the  river  rose  like  a  mighty 
flood,  and  the  bad  magicians,  changed  into  fishes, 
floated  away  in  it  and  caused  men  no  more 
trouble. 

SCAR-FACE:    A  BLACKFOOT  STORY. 

There  was  a  man  who  had  a  beautiful  daugh 
ter.  Each  of  the  brave  and  handsome  and  rich 
young  men  had  asked  her  to  marry  him,  but  she 
had  always  said  No,  that  she  did  not  want  a  hus 
band.  When  at  last  her  father  and  mother  asked 
her  why  she  would  not  marry  some  one,  she  told 
them  the  sun  had  told  her  he  loved  her  and  that 
she  should  marry  no  one  without  his  consent. 

Now  there  was  a  poor  young  man  in  the 
village,  whose  name  was  Scar-face.  He  was  a 
good-looking  young  man  except  for  a  dreadful 
scar  across  his  face.  He  had  always  been  poor, 
and  had  no  relatives  and  no  friends.  One  day 
when  all  the  rich  young  men  had  been  refused 
by  the  beautiful  girl,  they  began  to  tease  poor 
Scar-face.  They  said  to  him :  — 

"  Why  don't  you  ask  that  girl  to  marry  you  ? 
You  are  so  rich  and  handsome." 


36  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

Scar-face  did  not  laugh  at  their  unkind  joke, 
but- said,  "  I  will  go." 

He  asked  the  girl,  and  she  liked  him  because 
he  was  good;  and  she  was  willing  to  have  him 
for  her  husband.  So  she  said :  "  I  belong  to  the 
sun.  Go  to  him.  If  he  says  so,  I  will  marry 
you." 

Then  Scar-face  was  very  sad,  for  who  could 
know  the  way  to  the  sun  ?  At  last  he  went  to 
an  old  woman  who  was  kind  of  heart.  He  asked 
her  to  make  him  some  moccasins,  as  he  was  going 
on  a  long  journey.  So  she  made  him  seven  pairs 
and  gave  him  a  sack  of  food,  and  he  started. 

Many  days  he  traveled,  keeping  his  food  as 
long  as  he  could  by  eating  berries  and  roots  or 
some  animal  that  he  killed.  At  last  he  came  to 
the  house  of  a  wolf. 

"  Where  are  you  going  ?  "  asked  the  wolf. 

"  I  seek  the  place  where  the  sun  lives,"  said 
Scar-face. 

"I  know  all  the  prairies,  the  valleys,  and  the 
mountains,  but  I  don't  know  the  sun's  home," 
said  the  wolf ;  "  but  ask  the  bear ;  he  may  know." 

The  next  night  the  young  man  reached  the 
bear's  house.  "  I  know  not  where  he  stops.  I 
know  much  country,  but  I  have  never  seen  the 
lodge.  Ask  the  badger;  he  is  smart,"  said  the 
bear. 

The  badger  was  in  his  hole  and  was  rather 
cross  at  being  disturbed.  He  did  not  know  the 
sun's  house,  but  said  perhaps  the  wolverine  would 


STORIES   OF  INDIANS.  37 

know.  Though  Scar-face  searched  the  woods,  he 
could  not  find  the  wolverine. 

In  despair  he  sat  down  to  rest.  He  cried  to 
the  wolverine  to  pity  him,  that  his  moccasins 
were  worn  out  and  his  food  gone. 

The  wolverine  appeared.  "  Ah,  I  know  where 
he  lives;  to-morrow  you  shall  see:  it  is  beyond 
the  great  water." 

The  next  morning  the  wolverine  put  the  young 
man  on  the  trail,  and  at  last  he  came  to  a  great 
water.  Here  his  courage  failed ;  he  was  in  de 
spair.  There  was  no  way  to  cross.  Just  then 
two  swans  appeared  and  asked  him  about  himself. 

When  he  told  his  story,  they  took  him  safely 
over.  "  Now,"  said  they,  as  he  stepped  ashore, 
"you  are  close  to  the  sun's  house.  Follow  that 
trail." 

Scar-face  soon  saw  some  beautiful  things  in  the 
path,  —  a  war-shirt,  shield,  bow,  and  arrow.  But 
he  did  not  touch  them. 

Soon  he  came  upon  a  handsome  young  man 
whose  name  was  Morning  Star.  He  was  the 
child  of  the  sun  and  the  moon.  They  became 
great  friends. 

Together  they  went  to  the  house  of  the  sun, 
and  there  Morning  Star's  mother  was  kind  to 
Scar-face  because  her  son  told  her  that  Scar- 
face  had  not  stolen  his  pretty  things.  When 
the  sun  came  home  at  night,  the  moon  hid  Scar- 
face  under  some  skins,  but  the  sun  knew  at  once 
that  some  one  was  there.  So  they  brought  him 


38  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

forth  and  told  him  he  should  always  be  with 
Morning  Star  as  his  comrade.  And  one  day  he 
saved  his  friend's  life  from  an  attack  of  long- 
beaked  birds  down  by  the  great  water. 

Then  the  sun  and  moon  were  happy  over  what 
he  had  done  and  asked  what  they  could  do  for 
him.  And  Scar-face  told  them  his  story,  and  the 
sun  told  him  he  should  marry  his  sweetheart. 
And  he  took  the  scar  from  his  face  as  a  sign 
to  the  girl.  They  gave  him  many  beautiful 
presents,  and  the  sun  taught  him  many  things, 
and  how  the  medicine  lodge  should  be  built  and 
how  the  dance  should  be  danced,  and  at  last  Scar- 
face  parted  from  them,  and  went  home  over  the 
Milky  Way,  which  is  a  bridge  connecting  heaven 
and  earth. 

And  he  sat,  as  is  the  custom  of  strangers  com 
ing  to  a  town,  on  the  hill  outside  the  village.  At 
last  the  chief  sent  young  men  to  invite  him  to  the 
village,  and  they  did  so.  When  he  threw  aside 
his  blanket,  all  were  surprised,  for  they  knew  him. 
But  he  wore  rich  clothing,  he  had  a  beautiful 
bow  and  arrow,  and  his  face  no  longer  bore  the 
scar.  And  when  he  came  into  the  village,  he 
found  the  girl,  and  she  knew  that  he  had  been  to 
the  sun,  and  she  loved  him,  and  they  were  married. 

ERMINNIE  A.  SMITH.  —  A  highly  accomplished  woman. 
Shortly  before  her  death  she  made  a  study  for  the  Bureau  of 
American  Ethnology  upon  Myths  of  the  Iroquois. 

CHARLES  GODFREY  LELAND.  —  Poet,  prose  writer,  and  trav 
eler.  His  poems  appear  under  the  nom  de  plume  of  "  Hans 


WAR.  39 

Breitmann."      His   Algonquin    Legends  of  New   England  is 
important. 

GEORGE  BIRD  GRINNELL. — Writer.    His  Pawnee  Hero  Stories 

and   Folk-Tales   and    Blackfoot    Lodge  Tales    are    charming 

works.     We  have  drawn  upon  him  for  much  material,  espe 
cially  here  and  in  XVI.  and  XX. 


VI. 

WAR. 

ALL  Indians  were  more  or  less  warlike ;  a  few 
tribes,  however,  were  eminent  for  their  passion 
for  war.  Such,  among  eastern  tribes,  were  the 
Iroquois  ;  among  southwestern  tribes,  the  Apa 
ches  ;  and  in  Mexico,  the  Aztecs. 

The  purpose  in  Indian  warfare  was,  every 
where,  to  inflict  as  much  harm  upon  the  enemy, 
and  to  receive  as  little  as  possible. 

The  causes,  of  war  were  numerous  —  trespass 
ing  on  tribal  territory,  stealing  ponies,  quarrels 
between  individuals. 

In  their  warfare  stealthiness  and  craft  were 
most  important.  Sometimes  a  single  warrior 
crept  silently  to  an  unsuspecting  camp  that  he 
might  kill  defenseless  women,  or  little  children, 
or  sleeping  warriors,  and  then  as  quietly  he  with 
drew  with  his  trophies, 

In  such  approaches,  it  was  necessary  to  use 
every  help  in  concealing  oneself.  Of  the  Apaches 
it  is  said :  "  He  can  conceal  his  swart  body 
amidst  the  green  grass,  behind  brown  shrubs  or 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


INDIAN  SPEARS,  SHIELD,  AND  QUIVER  OF  ARROWS, 


gray  rocks,  with 
so  much  ad 
dress  and  judg 
ment  that  any 
one  but  the 
experienced 
would  pass  him 
by  without  de 
tection  at  the 
distance  of 
three  or  four 
yards.  Some 
times  they  will 
envelop  them 
selves  in  a  gray 
blanket,  and  by 
an  artistic  sprin 
kling  of  earth 
will  so  resemble 
a  granite  bowl 
der  as  to  be 
passed  within 
near  range 
without  suspi 
cion.  At  others, 
they  will  cover 
their  person 
with  freshly 
gathered  grass, 
and  lying  pros- 


WAR.  41 

a  natural  portion  of  the  field.  Again,  they  will  plant 
themselves  among  the  yuccas,  and  so  closely  imi 
tate  their  appearance  as  to  pass  for  one  of  them." 

At  another  time  the  Indian  warrior  would  de 
pend  upon  a  sudden  dash  into  the  midst  of  the 
enemy,  whereby  he  might  work  destruction  and 
be  away  before  his  presence  was  fairly  realized. 

Clark  tells  of  an  unexpected  assault  made  upon 
a  camp  by  some  white  soldiers  and  Indian  scouts. 
One  of  these  scouts,  named  Three  Bears,  rode  a 
horse  that  became  unmanageable,  and  dashed  with 
his  rider  into  the  very  midst  of  the  now  angry  and 
aroused  enemy.  Shots  flew  around  him,  and  his 
life  was  in  great  peril.  At  that  moment  his  friend, 
Feather-on-the-head,  saw  his  danger.  He  dashed  in 
after  Three  Bears.  As  he  rode,  he  dodged  back  and 
forth,  from  side  to  side,  in  his  saddle,  to  avoid  shots. 
At  the  very  center  of  the  village,  Three  Bears' 
horse  fell  dead.  Instantly,  Feather-on-the-head, 
sweeping  past,  caught  up  his  friend  behind  him 
on  his  own  horse,  and  they  were  gone  like  a  flash. 

A  favorite  device  in  war  was  to  draw  the  enemy 
into  ambush.  An  attack  would  be  made  with  a 
small  part  of  the  force.  This  would  seem  to  make 
a  brave  assault,  but  would  then  fall  back  as  if 
beaten.  The  enemy  would  press  on  in  pursuit 
until  some  bit  of  woods,  some  little  hollow,  or 
some  narrow  place  beneath  a  height  was  reached. 
Then  suddenly  the  main  body  of  attack,  which 
had  been  carefully  concealed,  would  rise  to  view 
on  every  side,  and  a  massacre  would  ensue. 


42  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

After  the  white  man  brought  horses,  the  war 
expeditions  were  usually  trips  for  stealing  ponies. 
These,  of  course,  were  never  common  among 
eastern  tribes ;  they  were  frequent  among  Plains 
Indians.  Some  man  dreamed  that  he  knew  a 
village  of  hostile  Indians  where  he  could  steal 
horses.  If  he  were  a  brave  and  popular  man, 
companions  would  promptly  join  him,  on  his  an 
nouncing  that  he  was  going  on  an  expedition. 
When  the  party  was  formed,  the  women  prepared 
food,  moccasins,  and  clothing.  When  ready,  the 
party  gathered  in  the  medicine  lodge,  where  they 
gashed  themselves,  took  a  sweat,  and  had  prayers 
and  charms  repeated  by  the  medicine  man.  Then 
they  started.  If  they  were  to  go  far,  at  first  they 
might  travel  night  and  day.  As  they  neared  their 
point  of  attack,  they  became  more  cautious,  trav 
eling  only  at  night,  and  remaining  concealed  dur 
ing  the  daylight.  When  they  found  a  village  or 
camp  with  horses,  their  care  was  redoubled.  Wait 
ing  for  night,  they  then  approached  rapidly  but 
silently. 

Each  man  worked  by  himself.  Horses  were 
quickly  loosed  and  quietly  driven  away.  When 
at  a  little  distance  from  the  village  they  gathered 
together,  mounted  the  stolen  animals,  and  fled. 
Once  started,  they  pressed  on  as  rapidly  as 
possible. 

It  was  the  ambition  of  every  Plains  Indian  to 
count  coup.  Coup  is  a  French  word,  meaning  a 
stroke  or  blow.  It  was  considered  an  act  of  great 


WAR.  43 

bravery  to  go  so  near  to  a  live  enemy  as  to  touch 
him  with  the  hand,  or  to  strike  him  with  a  short 
stick,  or  a  little  whip.  As  soon  as  an  enemy  had 
been  shot  and  had  fallen,  three  or  four  often  would 
rush  upon  him,  anxious  to  be  the  first  one  to 
touch  him,  and  thus  count  coup. 

There  was  really  great  danger  in  this,  for  a 
fallen  enemy  need  not  be  badly  injured,  and  may 
kill  one  who  closely  approaches  him.  More  than 
this,  when  seriously  injured  and  dying,  a  man  in 
his  last  struggles  is  particularly  dangerous.  It 
was  the  ambition  of  every  Indian  youth  to  make 
coup  for  the  first  time,  for  thereafter  he  was  con 
sidered  brave,  and  greatly  respected.  Old  men 
never  tired  of  telling  of  the  times  they  had  made 
coup,  and  one  who  had  thus  touched  dreaded  ene 
mies  many  times  was  looked  upon  as  a  mighty 
warrior. 

Among  certain  tribes  it  was  the  custom  to 
show  the  number  of  enemies  killed  by  the  wear 
ing  of  war  feathers.  These  were  usually  feathers 
of  the  eagle,  and  were  cut  or  marked  to  show 
how  many  enemies  had  been  slain.  Among  the 
Dakotas  a  war  feather  with  a  round  spot  of  red 
upon  it  indicated  one  enemy  slain;  a  notch  in 
the  edge  showed  that  the  throat  of  an  enemy  was 
cut ;  other  peculiarities  in  the  cut,  trim,  or  colora 
tion  told  other  stories.  Of  course,  such  feathers 
were  highly  prized. 

Every  one  has  seen  pictures  of  war  bonnets 
made  of  eagle  feathers.  These  consisted  of  a 


44  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

crown  or  band,  fitting  the  head,  from  which  rose 
a  circle  of  upright  feathers;  down  the  back  hung 
a  long  streamer,  a  band  of  cloth  sometimes  reach 
ing  the  ground,  to  which  other  feathers  were  at 
tached  so  as  to  make  a  great  crest.  As  many  as 
sixty  or  seventy  feathers  might  be  used  in  such  a 
bonnet,  and,  as  one  eagle  only  supplies  a  dozen, 
the  bonnet  represented  the  killing  of  five  or  six 
birds.  These  bonnets  \vere  often  really  worn  in 
war,  and  were  believed  to  protect  the  wearer  from 
the  missiles  of  the  enemy. 

The  trophy  prized  above  all  others  by  Ameri 
can  Indians  was  the  scalp.  Those  made  in  later 
days  by  the  Sioux  consist  of  a  small  disk  of 
skin  from  the  head,  with  the  attached  hair.  It 
was  cut  and  torn  from  the  head  of  wounded 
or  dead  enemies.  It  was  carefully  cleaned  and 
stretched  on  a  hoop ;  this  was  mounted  on  a  stick 
for  carrying.  The  skin  was  painted  red  on  the 
inside,  and  the  hair  arranged  naturally.  If  the 
dead  man  was  a  brave  wearing  war  feathers,  these 
were  mounted  on  the  hoop  with  the  scalp. 

It  is  said  that  the  Sioux  anciently  took  a  much 
larger  piece  from  the  head,  as  the  Pueblos  always 
did.  Among  the  latter,  the  whole  haired  skin, 
including  the  ears,  was  torn  from  the  head.  At 
Cochiti  might  be  seen,  until  lately,  ancient  scalps 
with  the  ears,  and  in  these  there  still  remained 
the  green  turquoise  ornaments. 

While  enemies  were  generally  slain  outright, 
such  was  not  always  the  case.  When  prisoners, 


WAR. 


45 


one  of  three  other  fates  might  await  them:  they 
might  be  adopted  by  some  member  of  the  tribe, 
in  place  of  a  dead  brother  or  son;  they  might 
be  made  to  run  the  gauntlet  as 
a  last  and  desperate  chance  of 
life.  This  was  a  severe  test  of 
agility,  strength,  and  endur 
ance.  A  man, given  this  chance, 
wasobliged  to  run  between  two 
lines  of  Indians,  all  more  or 
less  armed,  who  struck  at  him 
as  he  passed.  Usually  the 
poor  wretch  fell,  covered  with 
wounds, long  before  he  reached 
the  end  of  the  lines;  if  he 
passed  through,  however,  his 
life  was  spared.  Lastly,  pris 
oners  might  be  tortured  to 
death,  and  dreadful  accounts 
exist  of  such  tortures  among 
Iroquois,  Algonkin  and  others.  One  of  the  least 
terrible  was  as  follows :  the  unfortunate  prisoner 
was  bound  to  the  stake,  and  the  men  and  women 
picked  open  the  flesh  all  over  the  body  with  knives ; 
splinters  of  pine  were  then  driven  into  the  wounds 
and  set  on  fire.  The  prisoner  died  in  dreadful 
agony. 


APACHE  AND  SIOUX  SCALPS. 


46  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

VII. 

HUNTING   AND   FISHING. 

To  the  Indian  hunting  and  fishing  were  serious 
business.  Upon  the  man's  success  depended 
the  comfort  and  even  the  life  of  the  household. 
Game  was  needed  as  food.  The  Indians  had  to 
learn  the  habits  of  the  different  animals  so  as  to 
be  able  to  capture  or  kill  them.  Boys  tried  early 
to  learn  how  to  hunt. 

Clark  tells  of  an  Indian,  more  than  eighty 
years  old,  who  recalled  with  great  delight  the 
pleasure  caused  by  his  first  exploit  in  hunting. 
"  When  I  was  eight  years  of  age,"  he  said,  "  I 
killed  a  goose  with  a  bow  and  arrow  and  took 
it  to  my  father's  lodge,  leaving  the  arrow  in  it. 
My  father  asked  me  if  I  had  killed  it,  and  I  said, 
*  Yes ;  my  arrow  is  in  it.'  My  father  examined 
the  bird,  fired  off  his  gun,  turned  to  an  old  man 
who  was  in  the  lodge,  presented  the  gun  to  him 
and  said,  '  Go  and  harangue  the  camp ;  inform 
them  all  what  my  boy  has  done.'  When  I  killed 
my  first  buffalo  I  was  ten  years  old.  My  father 
was  right  close,  came  to  me  and  asked  if  I  killed 
it.  I  said  I  had.  He  called  some  old  men  who 
were  by  to  come  over  and  look  at  the  buffalo 
his  son  had  killed,  gave  one  of  them  a  pony, 
and  told  him  to  inform  the  camp."  Such  boyish 
successes  were  always  the  occasion  of  family 
rejoicing. 


HUNTING   AND   FISHING.  47 

To  the  Indians  of  the  Plains  the  important 
game  was  buffalo  ;  and  for  buffalo  two  great  hunts 
were  made  each  year,  —  a  summer  and  a  winter 
hunt.  Sometimes  whole  villages  together  went 
to  these  hunts.  Few  cared  to  stay  behind,  for 
fear  of  attack  by  hostile  Indians.  Provisions  and 
valuables  which  were  not  needed  on  the  journey 
were  carefully  buried,  to  be  dug  up  again  on  the 
return.  At  times  the  people  of  a  village  went 
hundreds  of  miles  on  these  expeditions.  Baggage 
was  carried  on  ponies  in  charge  of  the  women. 
At  night  it  took  but  a  few  minutes  to  make  camp, 
and  no  more  was  necessary  in  the  morning  for 
breaking  camp  and  getting  on  the  way. 

In  journeying  they  went  in  single  file.  Scouts 
constantly  kept  a  lookout  for  herds.  When  a 
herd  was  sighted,  it  was  approached  with  the 
greatest  care :  everything  was  done  according  to 
fixed  rules  and  under  appointed  leaders.  When 
ready  for  the  attack,  the  hunters  drawn  up  in  a 
single  row  approached  as  near  as  possible  to  the 
herd  and  waited  for  the  signal  to  attack.  When 
it  was  given,  the  whole  company  charged  into  the 
herd,  and  each  did  his  best  to  kill  all  he  could. 
All  were  on  horseback,  and  armed  with  bows  and 
arrows.  They  tried  to  get  abreast  of  the  animal 
and  to  discharge  the  weapon  to  a  vital  spot. 
One  arrow  was  enough  to  kill  sometimes,  but 
usually  more  were  necessary.  A  single  success 
ful  hunter  might  kill  four  or  five  in  a  half  hour. 

After  the  killing  a  lively  time    ensued.     The 


48  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

dead  animals  were  skinned,  cut  up,  and  carried 
on  ponies  into  camp.  There  the  skins  were 
pegged  out  to  dry,  the  meat  was  cut  up  into 
strips  or  sheets  for  drying,  or  made  up  into 
pemmican.  Every  one  was  busy  and  happy  in 
the  prospect  of  plenty  of  food. 

Sometimes,  however,  no  herds  could  be  found. 
Day  after  day  passed  without  success.  The 
camp  was  well-nigh  discouraged.  Then  a  buf 
falo  dance  was  held.  In  this  the  hunters  dressed 
themselves  in  the  skins  and  horns  of  buffalo,  and 
danced  to  the  accompaniment  of  special  music 
and  songs. 

In  dancing,  they  imitated  the  movements  of 
the  buffalo,  believing  that  thus  they  could  compel 
the  animals  to  appear.  Hour  after  hour,  even 
day  after  day,  passed  in  such  dancing  until  some 
scout  hurrying  in  reported  a  herd  in  sight.  Then 
the  dance  would  abruptly  cease,  its  object  being 
gained. 

Of  course  many  ingenious  devices  were  em 
ployed  in  hunting.  Antelope  were  stalked  ;  fur- 
bearing  animals  were  trapped  or  snared.  Some 
times  all  the  animals  in  a  considerable  area  were 
driven  into  a  central  space  where  they  were  killed, 
or  from  which  they  were  driven  between  lines  of 
stones  or  brush,  to  some  point  where  they  would 
fall  over  a  cliff  and  be  killed  in  the  fall.  Such 
drives  used  to  be  common  in  the  Pueblo  district. 
To-day  deer  are  rarer  there ;  so  are  the  mountain 
lion  and  the  bear.  Hunts  there  are  more  likely 


HUNTING  AND  FISHING.  49 

nowadays  to  be  for  rabbits  than  for  larger  game. 
These  are  caught  in  nets,  but  are  more  frequently 
killed  by  rabbit  sticks,  which  may  be  knot-ended 
clubs  or  flat,  curved  throwing  sticks,  a  little  like 
the  boomerangs  of  Australia. 

The  great  weapon  for  hunting  was  the  bow  and 
arrow.  Indian  bows  ranged  from  frail,  weak 
things,  hardly  suitable  for  a  child,  to  the  "strong 
bow"  of  the  Sioux  and  Crows,  which  would  send 


GROUP  OF  WEAPONS. 
(FROM   ORIGINALS   IN   PEABODY   MUSEUM,   CAMBRIDGE.) 

an  arrow  completely  through  a  buffalo ;  the  most 
powerful  Colt's  revolver  —  so  Clark  says  —  will 
not  send  a  ball  through  the  same  animal.  The 
Crows  sometimes  made  beautiful  bows  of  elk 
horn ;  such  cost  much  labor  and  were  highly 
valued.  Three  months'  time  was  spent  in  mak 
ing  a  single  one.  Arrows  required  much  care 
in  their  making.  In  some  tribes  each  man 
made  all  his  arrows  of  precisely  one  length, 


5O  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

different  from  all  others.  This  was  an  aid  in 
recognizing  them.  Many  carried  with  them  a 
measure,  the  exact  length  of  their  arrows  so  as  to 
settle  disputes.  This  was  necessary  to  determine 
who  had  killed  a  given  animal :  the  carcass  be 
longed  to  the  man  whose  arrow  was  found  in  it. 

Among  some  eastern  tribes,  and  particularly 
in  the  south,  where  fine  canes  grow  near  streams, 
the  blow-gun  is  used.  This  consists  of  a  piece 
of  cane  perhaps  eight  or  ten  feet  long,  which 
is  carefully  pierced  from  end  to  end  and  then 
smoothed  inside.  Arrows  are  made  from  slender 
shafts  of  rather  heavy  and  hard  wood.  They  are 
perhaps  a  foot  and  a  half  long  and  hardly  more 
than  a  quarter  or  an  eighth  of  an  inch  thick. 
They  are  cut  square  at  one  end  and  pointed  at 
the  other;  around  the  shaft,  toward  the  blunt 
end,  a  wrapping  of  thistle-down  is  firmly  secured 
with  thread.  This  surrounds  perhaps  three  or 
four  inches  of  the  arrow's  length,  and  has  a 
diameter  such  as  to  neatly  fit  the  bore  of  the 
blow-gun.  The  arrow  is  inserted  in  the  tube, 
and  a  sudden  puff  of  breath  sends  it  speeding 
on  its  way.  An  animal  the  size  of  a  rabbit  or 
woodchuck  may  be  killed  with  this  weapon  at 
an  astonishing  distance. 

Among  inland  tribes,  fishing  was  usually  a  mat 
ter  of  secondary  importance.  Fish  pieced  out  the 
food  supply  rather  than  formed  its  bulk.  But 
along  some  seacoasts  fish  is  a  very  important 
food.  The  tribes  of  the  Northwest  Coast  live 


HUNTING   AND   FISHING.  5 1 

almost  entirely  upon  fish.  The  salmon  is  partic 
ularly  important  among  them.  These  tribes 
have  devised  many  kinds  of  lines,  hooks,  nets, 
fish-baskets,  traps,  and  wiers.  Everywhere  the 
commonest  mode  of  securing  fish  is  and  was  by 
spearing. 

Once  I  went  out  at  night  with  some  Indian 
boys  of  Gay  Head,  Martha's  Vineyard,  "nee- 
skotting."  These  boys  have  a  good  deal  of 
Indian  blood,  but  they  dress,  talk,  and  act  in 
most  ways  just  like  white  boys.  I  think  neeskott- 
ing,  however,  is  truly  Indian.  "  We  rode  down 


BIRCH-BARK  CANOE. 


to  the  shore  in  an  ox-cart,  carrying  lanterns  with 
us.  Each  boy  had  a  pole,  at  the  end  of  which 
was  firmly  tied  a  cod-hook.  The  tide  was  falling, 
and  the  wind  was  blowing  in  toward  shore. 
Walking  along  the  beach,  with  lantern  held  in 
one  hand  so  as  to  see  the  shallow  water's  bottom, 
and  with  the  pole  in  the  other  hand  ready  for 
use,  the  boys  watched  for  fish.  Hake,  a  foot  or 
more  long,  frost  fish,  lighter  colored  and  more 
slender,  and  eels,  are  the  usual  prey.  The  hake 
and  eels  rarely  come  into  water  less  than  six 
inches  deep.  Frost  fish,  on  the  contrary,  corne 


52  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

close  into  shore,  and  on  cold  nights  crowd  out  on 
the  very  beach.  When  a  fish  has  been  seen,  a 
sudden  stroke  of  the  pole  and  a  quick  inpull  are 
given  to  impale  the  prey,  and  drag  it  in  to  shore. 
It  was  an  exciting  scene.  Hither  and  thither  the 
boys  darted,  with  strokes  and  landings,  with  cries 
of  joy  at  success  or  despair  at  failure.  Finally, 
with  perhaps  fifty  hake,  twenty  frost  fish,  and  one 
shining  eel,  the  bottom  of  our  cart  was  covered, 
and  we  turned  homeward." 

In  fishing,  hunting,  and  journeying,  the  wood- 


"  BULL-BOAT"   OR  CORACLE. 

land  Indians  needed  some  sort  of  water  craft. 
They  had  a  number  of  different  kinds  of  canoes. 
The  "  dug-out,"  cut  from  a  single  tree  trunk,  is 
still  used  in  many  of  our  Southern  streams ;  the 
Cherokees  in  their  lovely  North  Carolina  home 
have  them.  Along  the  Northwest  Coast,  magnifi 
cent  war-canoes,  capable  of  carrying  fifty  or  sixty 
persons,  were  made  from  single  giant  logs  ;  these 
canoes  often  had  decorative  bow  and  stern  pieces 
carved  from  separate  blocks.  The  birch-bark 
canoes  were  made  over  light  wooden  frames  with 


THE   CAMP-FIRE.  53 

pieces  of  birch  bark  neatly  fitted,  sewed,  and 
gummed,  to  keep  out  the  water.  Almost  all  the 
Algonkin  tribes  and  the  Iroquois  used  them  upon 
their  lakes  and  rivers ;  they  were  light  enough 
to  be  carried  easily  across  the  portages.  A  few 
tribes,  the  Mandans  among  others,  had  the  light 
but  awkward  "  bull-boat,"  or  coracle,  nearly  circu 
lar,  consisting  of  a  light  framework  covered  with 
skin :  such  were  chiefly  used  in  ferrying  across 
rivers. 

VIII. 
THE    CAMP-FIRE. 

ONE  of  the  first  things  after  reaching  camp 
was  to  build  the  camp-fire.  Among  Indians  the 
camp-fire  not  only  served  for  heat  and  cooking, 
but  for  light,  and  to  scare  away  animal  foes  and 
bad  spirits.  You  and  I  would  probably  have  a 
hard  time  making  a  fire  without  matches.  The 
Indian  had  no  matches  until  he  got  them  from 
the  whites.  There  are  two  ways  in  which  the 
Indians  made  fire.  One  was  by  striking  two  hard 
pieces  of  stone  —  such  as  chert  or  pyrites  —  to 
gether,  which  gave  a  spark,  which  was  caught  on 
tinder  and  blown  to  a  flame.  Of  course  white 
men  used  to  make  fire  in  much  the  same  way  — 
only  they  had  a  flint  and  steel.  When  whites 
first  came  into  contact  with  Indians,  they  used 
the  flint  and  steel,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the 


54  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

Indians  had  secured  them  from  the  white  traders, 
Many  Indians  still  use  the  old-fashioned  flint  and 
steel.  Some  old  Sac  and  Fox  men  always  carry 
them  in  their  tobacco  pouch,  and  use  them  for 
lighting  their  pipes. 

Another  Indian  method  of  making  fire  was  by 
rubbing  two  pieces  of  wood  together.  It  is  said 
that  this  is  not  difficult,  but  one  needs  to  know 
just  how,  in  order  to  succeed.  In  the  cliff  ruins 
of  the  southwest  two  little  sticks  are  often  found 
together.  One  may  be  a  foot  or  two  long,  and 
the  lower  end  is  bluntly  pointed,  worn  smooth, 
and  blackened  as  if  it  had  been  slightly  burned. 
The  other  stick  is  of  the  same  thickness,  but  may 
be  only  a  few  inches  long;  in  it  are  several  coni 
cal  hollows,  which  are  charred,  smooth,  and  usu 
ally  broken  away  at  the  edge.  These  two  sticks 
were  used  by  the  "  cliff-dwellers  "  for  making  fire. 
The  second  one  was  laid  down  flat  on  the  ground ; 
the  pointed  end  of  the  other  was  placed  in  one  of 
the  holes  in  the  lower  piece,  and  the  stick  was 
whirled  between  the  hands  by  rubbing  these  back 
and  forth.  While  the  upright  stick  was  being 
whirled,  it  was  also  pressed  down  with  some  little 
force.  By  the  whirling  and  pressure  fine  wood 
dust  was  ground  out  which  gathered  at  the  broken 
edge  of  the  conical  cavity.  Soon,  in  the  midst 
of  this  fine  wood  dust,  there  appeared  a  spark. 
Some  dry,  light  stuff  was  at  once  applied  to  it, 
and  it  was  blown  into  a  flame. 

Certainly  this  mode   of  making  fire  was  hard 


THE  CAMP-FIRE.  55 

on  the  hands  —  it  must  soon  have  raised  blisters. 
Some  tribes  had  learned  how  to  grind  out  a  spark 
without  this  disadvantage.  The  lower  stick  was 
as  before.  A  little  bow  was  taken,  and  its  cord 
was  wrapped  about  the  upright  stick  and  tight 
ened.  The  two  sticks  were  then  put  into  posi 
tion,  the  top  of  the  upright  being  steadied  with 
a  small  block  held  in  the  left  hand ;  the  bow 
being  moved  back  and  forth  with  the  right  hand, 
the  upright  was  caused  to  whirl  easily  and  rapidly. 
This  was  used  among  many  of  our  tribes. 

Although  making  it  themselves,  many  Indians 
think  the  fire  made  with  the  bow-drill  is  sacred, 
and  that  it  comes  from  heaven.  Among  the 
Aztecs  of  Mexico  there  was  a  curious  belief  and 
ceremony.  The  Aztecs  counted  their  years  in 
groups  of  fifty-two,  just  as  we  count  ours  by  hun 
dreds  or  centuries.  They  thought  the  world 
would  come  to  an  end  at  the  close  of  one  of 
these  fifty-two  year  periods.  Therefore,  they  were 
much  disturbed  when  such  a  time  approached. 
When  the  end  of  the  cycle  really  came,  all  the 
fires  and  lights  in  the  houses  had  been  put  out; 
not  a  spark  remained  anywhere.  When  it  was 
night,  the  people  went  out  along  the  great  cause 
way  to  Itztapalapa,  at  the  foot  of  the  Hill  ot 
the  Star.  On  the  summit  of  this  hill  was  a  small 
temple.  At  the  proper  hour,  determined  by  ob 
serving  the  stars,  the  priests  cast  a  victim  on  the 
altar,  tore  out  his  heart  as  usual,  and  placed  the 
lower  stick  of  the  fire-sticks  upon  the  wound. 


56  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

The  upright  stick  was  adjusted  and  whirled.  For 
a  moment  all  were  in  great  anxiety.  The  will  of 
the  gods  was  to  be  made  known.  If  no  spark 
appeared,  the  world  would  at  once  be  destroyed; 
if  there  came  a  spark,  the  gods  had  decreed  at 
least  one  cycle  more  of  existence  to  the  world. 
And  when  the  spark  appeared,  how  great  was 
the  joy  of  the  people!  All  had  carried  unlighted 
torches  in  their  hands,  and  now  these  were  lighted 
with  the  new  fire,  and  with  songs  of  rejoicing  .the 
crowd  hurried  back  to  the  city. 

Boys  know  pretty  well  how  Indians  cooked 
their  food.  Most  of  us  have  roasted  potatoes  in 
the  hot  ashes,  and  broiled  meat  or  frogs'  les^s  over 

o          o 

the  open  fire.  The  Indians  did  much  the  same. 
Pieces  of  meat  would  be  spitted  on  sharp  sticks, 
and  set  so  as  to  hang  over  the  fire.  Clams,  mus 
sels,  and  other  things,  were  baked  among  the  hot 
coals  or  ashes.  One  time  "  Old  Elsie,"  a  Lipan 
woman,  took  a  land  turtle,  which  I  brought  her 
alive,  and  thrust  it  head  first  into  the  fire.  This 
not  only  killed  the  turtle,  but  cooked  it,  and  split 
open  the  hard  shell  box  so  that  she  could  get  at 
the  meat  inside. 

Over  the  fireplace  the  Indians  usually  have  a 
pot  or  kettle  suspended  in  which  various  articles 
may  be  boiling  together.  The  Indians  invented 
succotash,  which  is  a  stew  of  corn  and  beans ;  we 
have  borrowed  the  thing  and  the  name.  At  the 
first  meal  I  ate  among  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  we 
all  squatted  on  the  ground,  outside  the  house 


THE  CAMP-FIRE.  57 

and  near  the  fire,  and  took  a  tin  of  boiled  fish 
off  the  coals.  We  picked  up  bits  of  the  fish  with 
our  fingers,  and  passed  the  pan  around  for  every 
one  to  have  a  drink  of  the  soup. 

All  this  is  easy  cooking;  but  how  would  you 
go  to  work  to  boil  buffalo  meat  if  you  had  no 
kettle,  pot,  nor  pan  of  any  kind  ?  A  great  many 
Indian  tribes  knew  how.  When  a  buffalo  was 
killed,  the  hide  was  carefully  removed.  A  bowl- 
like  hole  was  scraped  out  in  the  ground  and  lined 
with  the  buffalo  skin,  the  clean  side  up.  This 
made  a  nice  basin.  Water  was  put  into  this  and 
the  pieces  of  meat  laid  in.  A  hot  fire  was  kindled 
near  by,  and  stones  were  heated  in  it,  and  then 
dropped  into  the  basin  of  water  and  meat.  So 
the  food  was  boiled.  A  number  of  tribes  cooked 
meat  in  this  wray,  but  one  was  called  by  a  name 
that  means  "  stone-boilers  "  —  Assinaboines. 

Meat  was  often  dried.  In  some  districts  where 
the  air  is  clear  and  dry  and  the  sun  hot,  the  meat 
is  cut  into  strips  or  sheets,  and  dried  by  hanging 
it  on  lines  near  the  house.  At  other  places  it 
was  dried  and  smoked  over  a  fire.  Where  there 
was  buffalo  meat,  the  Indian  women  made  pem- 
mican,  which  was  good.  The  buffalo  meat  was 
first  dried  as  usual.  The  dried  meat  was  heated 
through  over  a  low  fire,  and  then  beaten  with 
sticks  or  mauls  to  shreds.  Buffalo  tallow  was 
melted  and  the  shredded  meat  stirred  up  in  it. 
All  was  then  put  into  a  bag  made  of  buffalo  skin 
and  packed  as  tightly  as  possible ;  the  bag  was 


i 


SMOKE  SIGNALING.      (AFTER    MALLERY.) 


THE  CAMP-FIRE.  59 

then  fastened  up  and  sewed  tight.  Sometimes 
the  marrow-fat  was  also  put  into  this  pemmican, 
and  dried  berries  or  choke-cherries.  Pemmican 
kept  well  a  long  time,  and  was  such  condensed 
food  that  a  little  of  it  lasted  a  long  time.  It  was 
eaten  dry  or  stewed  up  in  water  into  a  sort  of 
soup. 

A  curious  use  for  fire  among  some  Indians  was 
in  giving  signals.  A  place  visible  from  a  great 
distance  was  selected.  Upon  it  a  little  fire  was 
built  with  fuel  which  gave  a  dense  smoke.  Some 
times  the  signal  depended  upon  the  number  of  fires 
kindled  side  by  side.  Thus  when  Pima  Indians 
returned  from  a  war-party  against  Apaches,  they 
gave  smoke  signals  if  they  had  been  successful. 
A  single  fire  was  built  first ;  its  one  smoke  col 
umn  meant  success.  Then  a  number  of  little 
fires,  kindled  in  a  line  side  by  side,  indicated  the 
number  of  scalps  taken.  Sometimes  messages 
were  given  by  puffs  of  smoke.  When  the  fire 
had  been  kindled,  a  blanket  was  so  held  as  to 
prevent  the  smoke  rising.  When  a  lot  of  smoke 
had  been  imprisoned  beneath  it,  the  blanket  was 
suddenly  raised  so  as  to  let  it  escape.  It  was 
then  lowered,  held,  and  raised  so  as  to  cause  a 
new  puff.  These  puffs  of  smoke  rose  regularly 
in  long,  egg-shaped  masses,  and  according  to  their 
number  the  message  to  be  sent  varied.  Such 
signaling  by  smoke  puffs  was  common  among 
Plains  tribes. 


60  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

IX. 

SIGN  LANGUAGE  ON  THE  PLAINS. 

EVERY  one  talking  with  another  person  who 
speaks  a  different  language  will,  in  his  effort  to 
make  himself  understood,  quite  surely  make  some 
use  of  signs.  Often  the  signs  so  used  will  seem 
naturally  to  express  the  desired  idea.  Once,  a 
Tonkaway  Indian  in  trying  to  tell  me  that  all 
white  men  were  untruthful,  put  the  first  two 
fingers  of  his  right  hand,  slightly  separated,  near 
his  mouth  and  then  moved  the  hand  downward 
and  outward,  at  the  same  time  slightly  spreading 
the  fingers.  By  this  he  meant  to  say  that  white 
men  had  two  tongues,  or  were  liars.  They  say 
one  thing  and  mean  another. 

While  it  is  natural  for  all  people  to  use  signs 
to  convey  meaning,  the  use  of  signs  will  be  most 
frequent  where  it  is  a  common  thing  for  several 
people  speaking  different  languages  to  come  into 
contact.  While  all  American  Indians  use  some 
gestures,  the  Plains  Indians,  who  were  constantly 
meeting  other  tribes,  necessarily  made  much  use 
of  them.  In  fact,  a  remarkable  sign  language  had 
grown  up  among  them,  whereby  S\oux,  Crows,  As- 
sinaboines,  Pani,  Arapahoes,  Cheyennes,  Kiowas, 
could  readily  converse  upon  any  subject. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  sign  language  was 
invented  by  any  one  tribe.  Many  writers  have 


SIGN   LANGUAGE  ON  THE   PLAINS.  6 1 

claimed  that  it  was  made  by  the  Kiowas.  Rather, 
it  grew  up  of  itself  among  the  tribes  because 
gesturing  is  natural  to  peoples  everywhere. 

Deaf-mutes  left  to  themselves  always  use  signs. 
These  signs  are  of  two  kinds.  They  either  pic 
ture  or  copy  some  idea,  thing,  or  action,  or  they 
point  out  something.  It  is  interesting  to  find 
that  the  gestures  made  by  deaf-mutes  and  Indians 
are  often  the  same.  So  true  is  this,  that  deaf- 
mutes  and  Indians  quit'e  readily  understand  each 
other's  signs.  Parties  of  Indians  in  Washington 
for  business  are  sometimes  taken  to  the  Deaf- 
Mute  College  to  see  if  the  two  —  Indians  and 
deaf-mutes  —  can  understand  each  other.  While 
they  cannot  understand  every  sign,  they  easily 
get  at  each  other's  meaning.  One  time  a  pro 
fessor  from  a  deaf-mute  school,  who  knew  little 
of  Indians  and  nothing  at  all  of  Indian  languages, 
had  no  difficulty  while  traveling  through  Indian 
country  in  understanding  and  in  making  himself 
understood  by  means  of  signs. 

We  will  look  at  a  few  examples  of  Indian 
signs.  Try  and  make  them  from  the  descrip 
tion,  and  see  whether  you  think  they  are  natu 
ral  or  not.  The  signs  for  animal  names  usually 
describe  or  picture  some  peculiarity  of  the  ani 
mal. 

Badger.  —  The  right  hand  is  held  with  the  back 
up,  fingers  extended,  touching  and  pointing  to  the 
front,  in  front  and  to  the  right  of  the  body.  This 
shows  the  height  of  the  animal."  Then  the  first  and 


62 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


second  fingers  are  slightly  separated  (the  rest  of  the 
hand  being  closed)  and  drawn  from  the  nose  upward 
over  the  top  of  the  head.  This  shows  the  striped 

face.  The  two 
hands  are  then 
held  in  front  of 
the  body,  with 
fingers  curved, 
the  backs  up. 
and  drawn  as  if 
pawing  or 
scratching. 
This  has  refer 
ence  to  the  dig 
ging  of  the 
animal.  The 
complete  sign 
thus  gives  the 
size,  the  most 
striking  mark, 
and  the  habit 
of  the  animal. 
Beaver.  — 
'Hold  out  the 
left  hand,  with 
the  back  up, 

DOmtin^  tO   the 

right  and  front, 
in  front  of  the  body,  with  the  lower  part  of  the  arm 
horizontal  ;  cross  the  right  hand  under  it  so  that  the 
back  of  the  right  hand  is  against  the  left  palm.  Then 
leaving  the  right  wrist  all  the  time  against  the  left 
palm,  briskly  move  the  right  hand  up  and  down  so  it 
shall  slap  against  the  left  palm.  The  beaver  has  a 
broad,  flat  tail,  with  which  he  strikes  mud  or  water. 
The  sign  imitates  this  action. 


SIGN  LANGUAGE  ON  THE  PLAINS. 
(AFTER  MALLERY.) 


SIGN   LANGUAGE   ON  THE   PLAINS.  63 

Buffalo.  — Close  the  hands  except  the  forefingers; 
curve  these ;  place  the  hands  then  against  the  sides 
of  the  head,  near  the  top  and  fairly  forward.  These 
curved  forefingers  resemble  the  horns  of  the  buffalo 
and  so  suggest  that  animal. 

Dog.  —  Place  the  right  hand,  with  the  back  up, 
in  front  of  and  a  little  lower  than  the  left  breast: 
the  first  and  second  fingers  are  extended,  separated, 
and  point  to  the  left.  The  hand  is  then  drawn  sev 
eral  inches  to  the  right,  horizontally.  I  am  sure  you 
never  would  guess  how  this  came  to  mean  dog.  You 
remember  how  the  tent  poles  are  dragged  by  ponies 
when  camp  is  moved  ?  Well,  before  the  Indians  had 
horses  as  now,  the  dogs  used  to  have  to  drag  the 
poles.  This  sign  represents  the  dragging  of  the 
poles. 

Skunk.  —  The  skunk  is  a  little  animal,  but  it  has 
rather  a  complicated  sign,  (a)  The  height  is  indi 
cated  as  in  the  case  of  the  badger,  (b}  Raise  the 
right  hand,  with  the  back  backward,  a  little  to  the 
right  of  the  right  shoulder ;  all  the  fingers  are  closed 
except  the  forefinger,  which  is  curved ;  the  hand  is 
then  moved  forward  several  inches  by  gentle  jerks. 
This  represents  the  curious  way  in  which  the  broad, 
bushy  tail  is  carried  and  the  movement  of  the  ani 
mal  in  walking,  (c)  Raise  right  hand  toward  the 
face,  with  the  two  first  fingers  somewhat  separated, 
to  about  the  chin.  Then  move  it  upward  until  the 
nose  passes  between  the  separated  finger  tips.  This 
means  smell.  (d)  Hold  both  hands,  closed  with 
backs  up,  in  front  of  the  body,  the  two  being  at  the 
same  height.  Move  them  down  and  outward,  at 
the  same  time  opening  them.  This  is  done  rather 
briskly  and  vigorously.  It  means  bad.  Thus  in  the 
sign  for  skunk  we  give  size,  character  of  tail  and 
movement,  and  bad  smell. 


64  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

There  are  of  course  signs  for  the  various  In 
dian  tribes,  and  some  of  these  are  interesting 
because  they  usually  present  some  striking  char 
acteristic  of  the  tribe  "named. 

Crow.  —  Make  with  the  arms  the  motion  of  flap 
ping  wings. 

ArapaJio. — The  fingers  of  one  hand  touch  the 
breast  in  different  parts  to  indicate  the  tattooing  of 
that  part  in  points. 

Ankara,  often  called  "  corn-eaters,"  are  repre 
sented  by  imitating  the  shelling  of  corn,  by  holding 
the  left  hand  still,  the  shelling  being  done  with  the 
right. 

Blackfcet.  —  Pass  the  flat  hand  over  the  outer  edge 
of  the  right  foot  from  the  heel  to  beyond  the  toe,  as 
if  brushing  off  dust. 

ComancJic  and  S  ho  shone.  —  Imitate  with  the  hand 
or  forefinger  the  crawling  motion  of  the  snake. 

Flathead.  —  The  hand  is  raised  and  placed  against 
the  forehead. 

We  will,  only  give  one  more  example.  The 
sign  for  crazy  is  as  follows :  — 

Slightly  contract  the  fingers  of  the  right  hand  with 
out  closing  it ;  bring  it  up  to  and  close  in  front  of  the 
forehead ;  turn  the  hand  so  that  the  finger  tips  de 
scribe  a  little  circle. 

Bad  boys  sometimes  speak  of  people  having 
wheels  in  their  head.  This  Indian  sign  certainly 
seems  to  show  that  the  Indian  idea  of  craziness  is 
about  the  same  as  the  boys'. 

Captain    Clark   wrote  a   book    on  the    Indian 


PICTURE   WRITING.  65 

sign  language,  in  which  he  described  great  num 
bers  of  these  curious  signs.  Lieutenant  Mallery, 
too,  made  a  great  collection  of  signs  and  wrote 
a  long  paper  about  them.  A  third  gentleman 
has  tried  to  make  type  which  shall  print  the 
sign  language.  He  made  more  than  eight  hun 
dred  characters.  With  these  he  plans  to  teach 
the  old  Indians  to  read  papers  and  books  printed 
in  the  signs.  He  thinks  that  the  Indian  can  take 
such  a  paper,  and  making  the  signs  which  he 
sees  there  pictured,  he  will  understand  the 
meaning  of  the  article. 

W.  P.  CLARK.  —  Soldier.  Author  of  Indian  Sign  Language, 
which  not  only  is  a  convenient  dictionary  of  signs,  but  contains 
much  general  information  regarding  Indians. 

GARRICK  MALLERY.  —  Soldier,  ethnologist.  Connected  with 
Bureau  of  Ethnology  from  its  establishment  until  his  death. 
His  most  extended  papers  are  :  Sign  Language  among  North 
American  Indians,  Pictographs  of  the  North  American  Indians, 
Picture  Writing  of  the  American  Indians. 

LEWIS  HADLEY.  —  Inventor  of  Indian  Sign  Language  type. 


X. 

PICTURE   WRITING. 

THE  Indians  did  not  know  how  to  write  words 
by  means  of  letters.  There  were,  however,  many 
things  which  they  wished  to  remember,  and  they 
had  found  out  several  ways  in  which  to  record 
these. 


66  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

Thus  among  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  there  is  a 
long  legend  with  songs  telling  about  their  great 
teacher,  the  good,  wise,  and  kind  Wisuka.  It 
is  difficult  to  remember  exactly  such  long  narra 
tives,  but  with  objects  to  remind  the  reciter  of 
each  part,  it  is  not  so  hard.  So  the  persons  who 
are  to  repeat  the  legend  have  a  micam.  This 
is  a  wooden  box,  usually  kept  carefully  wrapped 
up  in  a  piece  of  buckskin  and  tied  with  a  leath 
ern  thong ;  in  it  are  a  variety  of  curious  objects, 
each  one  of  which  reminds  the  singer  or  reciter 
of  one  part  of  the  narrative.  Thus  he  is  sure 
not  to  leave  out  any  part.  In  the  same  way 
mystery  men  among  other  Algonkin  tribes  have 
pieces  of  birch  bark  upon  which  they  scratch 
rude  pictures,  each  of  which  reminds  them  of 
the  first  words  of  the  different  verses  in  their 
songs.  Such  reminders  are  great  helps  to  the 
memory.  Among  the  Iroquois  and  some  eastern 
Algonkins,  they  used,  as  we  shall  see,  wampum 
belts  to  help  remember  the  details  of  treaties 
or  of  important  events. 

Among  many  tribes  pictures  were  used  for 
recording  matters  of  importance.  Many  Sioux 
chiefs  have  written  the  story  of  their  life  in  pic 
tures.  They  took  several  large  sheets  of  paper 
and  gummed  the  edges  together  so  as  to  make 
one  long  strip.  Upon  this  they  made  pictures 
representing  the  important  incidents  in  their 
lives.  Thus  in  one  picture  was  shown  where, 
as  a  boy,  the  artist  shot  his  first  deer;  in  another 


PICTURE  WRITING.  67 

was  represented  his  first  hunting  party;  in  an 
other,  how  he  went  on  the  war-path  to  gain 
the  name  of  brave ;  in  another,  where  he  danced 
the  sun  dance ;  again,  how  he  went  to  Wash 
ington  to  see  the  white  men's  officers,  on  busi 
ness. 

The  most  important  record  made  by  the  Sioux 
is  the  Dakota  Calendar.  More  than  a  century 
ago  a  Sioux  Indian  determined  to  keep  a  count 
of  the  years  and  of  their  happenings.  So  he 
began  a  record  which  was  called  a  "winter 
count,"  where  the  events  of  the  different  years 
were  shown  by  pictures.  His  idea  became  pop 
ular,  and  a  number  of  these  winter  counts  were 
begun  by  other  Indians.  The  most  important 
of  these  is  one  which  has  been  called  the  Da 
kota  Calendar.  It  belonged  for  a  long  time 
to  an  Indian  named  Lone  Dog.  The  one  he 
had  was  a  copy  on  cloth  from  a  still  older  one, 
which  had  been  made  upon  a  buffalo  skin.  This 
count  appears  to  have  begun  about  the  year 
1800. 

Each  year  its  maker  selected  some  important 
event,  by  which  the  year  was  to  be  remembered, 
and  made  a  picture  for  it.  The  first  five  or  six 
pictures  run  in  a  nearly  straight  line  to  the  left ; 
the  line  of  pictures  then  coils  around  and  around 
this,  the  last  picture  always  being  added  to  the 
end  of  the  coiled  line.  The  pictures  are  in 
black  and  red,  and  while  rudely  drawn,  most 
of  them  can  be  easily  recognized.  In  1801  the 


THE  DAKOTA  CALENDAR.      (AFTER   MALLERY.) 


PICTURE   WRITING.  69 

Sioux  had  a  terrible  attack  of  smallpox,  and 
many  of  them  died;  the  picture  for  the  year  is 
a  man  covered  with  red  spots.  Whooping-cough 
is  a  disease  of  which  white  people  have  little 
fear,  but  it  is  sometimes  very  destructive  to 
Indians;  in  1813  it  was  among  the  Sioux,  and 
the  picture  for  that  year  was  a  man  coughing, 
as  shown  by  lines  diverging  from  in  front  of  his 
mouth.  In  1840  the  Sioux  made  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  the  Cheyennes ;  the  picture  shows 
two  hands  extended  for  a  friendly  grasp.  In 
1869  there  was  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun,  which 
is  represented  by  a  blackened  sun  and  two  stars 
in  red :  "  The  stars  were  seen  in  the  daytime." 
In  1833  was  the  famous  display  of  meteors  or 
falling  stars,  which  was  witnessed  in  all  parts  of 
the  United  States,  causing  great  excitement ; 
many  white  people  believed  that  it  portended 
the  destruction  of  the  world.  This  star  shower 
was  noticed  by  the  Sioux  keeper  of  the  winter 
count,  and  is  represented  by  a  black  moon  and 
a  lot  of  red  stars  represented  as  falling.  You 
can  pick  out  these  different  figures  in  the  pic 
ture,  which  represents  Lone  Dog's  winter  count, 
or  the  Dakota  Calendar  as  it  would  look  on  a 
buffalo  hide. 

Probably  you  have  all  seen  pictures  of  a  birch- 
bark  letter  written  many  years  ago  by  an  Ojibwa 
Indian.  It  was  written  by  one  of  Schoolcraft's 
guides.  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  with  a  party  of  assist 
ants  and  soldiers,  was  on  a  journey  of  exploration 


/O  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

in  the  Northwest.  One  morning  as  they  were 
leaving  camp,  Schoolcraft  saw  an  Indian  putting 
a  bit  of  birch  bark,  upon  which  he  had  drawn 
some  pictures  in  black,  into  a  cleft  at  the  end  of 
a  pole.  This  pole  was  then  stuck  slantingly  into 
the  ground  and  three  notches  were  cut  in  it. 
When  Mr.  Schoolcraft  asked  his  guide  for  an 
explanation,  he  said  this  letter  would  inform  any 


INDIAN   LETTER  ON  BIRCH   BARK.      (FROM  SCHOOLCRAFT.) 

Ojibwa  Indians  who  might  pass,  about  their 
party.  The  eagle  in  the  upper  corner  showed 
that  they  were  from  Washington  —  government 
people.  The  other  pictures  showed  that  there 
were  eight  common  soldiers  each  with  a  gun ; 
that  there  were  six  officers,  the  duty  of  each  be 
ing  indicated  by  something  carried  in  the  hand, 
—  the  captain  by  his  sword,  the  secretary  by 
his  book,  the  geologist  by  his  hammer,  etc. ;  that 


PICTURE  WRITING.  71 

soldiers  and  officers  were  white  men,  as  shown 
by  their  wearing  hats;  that  there  were  two 
guides,  Indians,  as  shown  by  their  having  no 
hats  and  carrying  spears;  that  the  night  before 
there  were  three  fires  in  the  camp,  soldiers, 
officers,  and  guides,  camping  separately;  that 
during  the  day  there  had  been  secured  a  prairie 
hen  and  a  turtle,  both  of  which  had  been  taken 
by  the  officers  for  supper.  But  other  facts  were 
shown  besides  those  told  in  the  pictures.  The 
pole  stuck  into  the  ground  pointed  the  direction 
in  which  the  party  would  journey;  the  three 
notches  on  the  pole  told  that  they  would  journey 
in  that  direction  three  days. 

Of  all  American  Indians  those  who  went 
farthest  in  the  direction  of  developing  writing 
were  some  of  those  living  in  Mexico  and  Central 
America.  The  Aztecs  had  an  extensive  system 
of  picture  writing.  By  means  of  pictures  they 
recorded  their  traditional  history  and  gave  full 
directions  regarding  the  worship  of  the  gods. 
They  had  real  books  written  with  these  pic 
tures.  These  books  were  written  sometimes  on 
skin,  sometimes  on  paper.  The  Aztecs  made 
two  kinds  of  paper,  one  of  the  soft  inner  bark  of 
a  tree,  the  other  from  the  maguey  plant.  The 
latter  sort  was  beaten  out  of  the  mass  of  leaf 
fibres  after  they  had  been  soaked  in  water.  The 
maguey  plant  is  much  like  the  century  plant 
which  you  have  seen  in  parks  and  greenhouses. 
The  paper  or  dressed  skin  was  made  into  long 


72  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

narrow  strips  many  feet  in  length.  These  strips 
were  folded  back  and  forth  like  a  screen,  and  the 
ends  were  fastened  to  two  thin  boards  which 
served  as  covers  for  the  book.  Sometimes  bits 
of  polished  green  stone  were  inlaid  into  these 
covers  to  make  them  pretty.  Some  of  these  old 
books  are  still  in  existence,  though  most  of  them 
have  long  been  destroyed.  We  cannot  read  any 
of  them  very  well  because  pictures  are  uncertain 


PAGE  OF  AZTEC  BOOK.      (FROM   PHOTOGRAPH.) 

means  of  conveying   information.     Still  we  can 
tell  something  about  their  meaning. 

The  viceroy  Mendoza,  the  first  one  sent  from 
Spain  to  govern  Mexico,  was  greatly  interested 
in  these  Mexican  books.  He  wanted  his  master, 
the  Emperer  Charles  V,  to  know  about  them, 
and  ordered  three  skilled  painters  of  the  Aztecs 
to  prepare  a  book  to  be  sent  to  the  Emperor. 
Each  artist  took  a  different  subject,  so  the  book 


MONEY.  73 

consists  of  three  parts.  The  first  gives  a  picture- 
written  story  of  the  Aztecs  from  the  time  when 
they  began  their  wanderings ;  the  second  gives  a 
list  of  the  towns  that  paid  tribute  to  the  city  of 
Mexico  and  a  statement  of  the  kinu  and  amount 
of  tribute  each  paid ;  the  third  shows  how  chil 
dren  were  trained,  how  they  were  punished  when 
they  were  naughty,  and  what  kind  of  work  they 
were  taught.  Of  course  the  Emperor  would  not 
understand  the  meaning  of  all  these  queer  pic 
tures,  far  different  from  anything  he  had  ever 
seen ;  so  Mendoza  had  an  explanation  or  trans 
lation  written  with  all  the  pictures.  This  is  as 
fortunate  for  us  as  it  was  for  the  Emperor:  in 
this  way  we  can  learn  something  about  the  use 
and  meaning  of  these  characters. 


XI. 

MONEY. 

INDIANS  have  always  been  fond  of  beads  and  of 
shells.  Wampum  is  shell  beads  of  an  especial 
shape  —  cylindrical,  with  square  cut  ends,  and 
with  a  length  one  and  a  half  times  their  thickness 
or  more.  This  wampum  was  made  from  a  thick 
and  heavy  sea-shell.  A  piece  was  split  off,  and 
then  ground  down  until  it  was  like  a  wheat  straw 
in  shape  and  size.  It  was  then  cut  into  lengths 


74  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

and  drilled.  The  drilling  was  slow  and  tedious 
work.  A  point  of  stone,  or,  after  the  whites 
came,  of  metal,  was  struck  into  a  cane  or  reed. 
The  bit  of  shell  to  be  drilled  was  held  in  the  left 
hand ;  the  drill  was  rolled  on  the  thigh  with  the 
right  hand.  There  were  two  kinds  of  wampum 
-  white  and  purple.  The  purple  was  most 
valued.  Thomas  Morton  quaintly  wrote  in  1630 
—  that  is,  it  sounds  quaint  to  us  now,  —  "White 
with  them  is  as  silver  with  us,  the  other  as  our 
gould." 

Originally  wampum  was  simply  ornamental. 
But  it  is  always  easy  for  things  that  are  prized  as 
ornament  to  be  used  in  trade.  So  wampum  was 
used  as  a  medium  of  exchange  ;  it  was  really  the 
money  of  the  eastern  Indians.  Strings  of  it 
passed  from  hand  to  hand  as  coin  does  with  us. 
Sometimes  the  ornamental  string  worn  a  moment 
before  would  be  removed  to  buy  some  object  seen 
and  desired.  The  famous  New  England  chief, 
King  Philip,  is  said  to  have  had  a  coat  "  made 
all  of  wampampeog,  which  when  in  need  of 
money,  he  cuts  to  pieces  and  distributes  it  plen 
tifully." 

Among  the  Algonkin  and  Iroquois  tribes  broad 
belts  or  bands  of  wampum  were  neatly  woven. 
The  work  consisted,  like  all  weaving,  of  two  sets 
of  threads.  The  long  warp  threads  were  crossed 
by  threads  laden  with  beads.  These  belts  were 
neat  and  handsome  and  often  contained  thou 
sands  of  beads.  The  differently  colored  beads 


MONEY.  75 

were  so  combined  as  to  make  striking  designs 
and  figures. 

These  fine  belts  were  often  given  as  pledges  of 
faith  and  agreement  at  the  making  of  treaties. 
Some  which  were  kept  in  the  tribe  were  made 
to  help  in  remembering  the  terms  of  the  treaty. 
Thus,  when  an  orator  was  speaking,  he  would 
hold  up  a  wampum  belt,  and  in  making  a  point 
of '  special  importance  would  '  call  attention  to 
some  figure  in  the  belt,  which  would  serve  ever 
after  to  remind  every  one  present  of  what  he  had 
said.  Among  the  Onondagas  (Iroquois)  there 


WAMPUM    BELT.      (AFTER   HOLMES.) 

was  an  officer  known  as  the  "keeper  of  the  belts," 
whose  business  it  was  to  know  all  these  figures 
and  the  different  ideas  connected  with  them,  and 
to  make  them  known  to  the  people  from  time  to 
time. 

There  is  a  common  little  sea-shell  found  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean  called  the  dentalium.  It  is  pretty, 
clear  white,  very  smooth,  and  shaped  much  like 
a  wee  elephant's  tusk.  The  natives  of  the  coast 
are  fond  of  it  as  ornament,  and  among  them 
strings  of  dentalium  shells  serve  for  money  just 
as  wampum  did  in  the  east.  They  were  secured 
usually  by  a  peculiar  mode  of  fishing.  Thus  we 


76  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

are  told  at  Forward  Inlet  a  number  of  split  sticks 
or  twigs  were  tied  together  into  a  bunch ;  this  was 
tied  to  the  end  of  several  poles  lashed  together 
so  as  to  reach  the  bottom  in  deep  water.  It  was 
driven  down  into  the  mud,  and  then  brought  up 
with  the  shells  caught  or  tangled  in  it.  The 
value  of  the  shells  depended  on  their  length. 
Little  ones  were  good  enough  to  be  worn  as 
ornaments,  but  the  larger  they  were,  the  more 
value  they  had  as  money.  Powers,  speaking  of 
the  Hupa  (California)  Indians,  says:  "  The  stand 
ard  of  measurement  is  a  string  of  five  shells. 
Nearly  every  man  has  ten  lines  tattooed  across 
the  inside  of  his  left  arm  about  half  way  between 
the  wrist  and  the  elbow;  and  in  measuring  shell- 
money  he  takes  the  string  in  his  right  hand,  draws 
one  end  over  his  left  thumb-nail,  and  if  the  other 
end  reaches  to  the  uppermost  of  the  tattoo  lines, 
the  five  shells  are  worth  $25  in  gold,  or  $5  a 
shell.  Of  course  it  is  only  one  in  ten  thousand 
that  is  long  enough  to  reach  this  high  value. 
The  longest  ones  usually  seen  are  worth  about 
$2,  that  is  $10  to  the  string.  Single  shells  are 
also  measured  on  the  creases  on  the  inside  of  the 
left  middle  finger,  a  $5  shell  being  one  which  will 
reach  between  the  two  extreme  creases.  No  shell 
is  treated  as  money  at  all  unless  it  is  long  enough 
to  rate  at  25  cents.  Below  that  it  degenerates 
into  squaw  money,  and  goes  to  form  part  of  a 
woman's  necklace." 

Shell  beads  are  much  prized  among  the  Pueblo 


MONEY.  77 

Indians,  and  are  sometimes  in  size  and  shape  very 
like  true  wampum.  At  other  times  they  are  thin, 
flat,  rather  broad  pierced  disks.  These  Indians 
also  delight  in  ornaments  made  out  of  haliotis  or 
"  abalone  "  shell.  This  shell  is  a  large  single 
valve,  shaped  a  little  like  the  ear  of  some  large 
animal,  and  hence  sometimes  called  "  ear-shell." 
The  outside  is  rough  and  unattractive,  but  the 
interior  is  pearly  and  of  rich  colors,  —  purple, 
green,  blue,  red,  crimson,  often  many  of  these 
bright  colors  showing  in  a  small  space.  Where 
the  rough  outside  of  the  shell  is  ground  away  the 
whole  material  is  found  to  be  pearly  and  rich  in 
color.  This  shell  is  cut  into  elliptical,  oblong,  or 
fancifully  formed  plates  which  are  pierced  and 
hung  by  a  cord.  Men  used  to  make  long  jour 
neys  to  the  Pacific  Coast  to  secure  shells.  Even 
from  the  eastern  pueblos  on  the  Rio  Grande  such 
journeys  were  customary,  and  many  of  the  men 
at  Cochiti  delight  to  tell  of  their  journey,  per 
haps  the  most  important  event  of  their  lives. 
They  loaded  their  burros  with  things  to  trade 
and  with  supplies,  and  then  struck  across  a  coun 
try,  desert  and  hostile,  in  the  hope  of  bringing 
back  a  great  load  of  the  precious  shell  mate 
rial. 

For  another  precious  material  they  had  not  far 
to  go.  Turquoise  w7as  highly  prized.  This  is  a 
hard,  fine-grained  blue,  bluish  green,  or  green 
stone,  that  is  found  at  several  localities  in  New 
Mexico.  It  has  been  mined  for  a  long  time  near 


78  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

Los  Cerillos,  and  the  old  diggings  and  the  old 
stone  tools  with  which  they  were  worked  may  still 
be  seen.  Modern  Indians  still  work  -the  same 
precious  veins,  and  bits  of  the  rough  stone  may 
pass  from  hand  to  hand  in  trade.  In  drilling  the 
shell  and  turquoise  beads  to-day  a  little  drill  is 
used  which  is  called  a  pump-drill.  An  upright 
stick  bears  a  point  of  hard  stone  or  iron  at  the 
bottom.  This  passes  through  a  hole  in  a  little 
flat  board  an  inch  or  so  wide  and  six  or  eight 
inches  long;  strings  or  thongs  pass  from  the  ends 
of  this  board  to  the  top  of  the  upright  stick.  On 
the  upright  stick,  not  far  from  the  lower  end,  is 
fastened  a  thin,  wide  disk  of  wood,  three  inches 
across.  This  serves  as  a  fly-wheel  to  regulate  the 
whirling  of  the  stick.  When  this  little  machine 

o 

is  properly  adjusted,  it  is  made  to  whirl  by  press 
ing  down  on  the  crossbow,  and  then  releas 
ing  the  pressure,  pressing  down  again,  etc.  It 
works  very  well,  and  drills  the  hard  turquoise  and 
the  softer  shell  neatly.  These  beads  and  orna 
ments  of  shell  or  turquoise  are  so  highly  prized 
that  they  easily  serve  the  purposes  of  trade.  So 
much  do  the  Navajo  desire  the  turquoise  that 
they  readily  exchange  for  it  their  beautiful  blan 
kets,  neat  silver-work,  or  finest  ponies. 

Blankets  have  always  been  greatly  prized  by 
all  Indians,  whether  they  be  made  out  of  skins, 
bark,  or  wool.  The  white  man  has  taken  advan 
tage  of  this  fact,  and  to-day  his  blankets  are  to  be 
found  everywhere.  In  some  places  they  have 


MONEY.  79 

become  the  real  money  and  have  regular  set 
values.  In  British  Columbia,  most  of  the  tribes 
reckon  all  values  in  Hudson  Bay  blankets.  These 
blankets  are  traded  out  by  the  Hudson  Bay  com 
pany  and  are  of  various  sizes.  These  sizes  are 
always  indicated  by  some  black  lines  worked  into 
the  blanket  along  the  edge.  The  largest  size  is 
called  a  "  four  point,"  the  smallest  a  "  one  point  " 
blanket.  One  size  is  considered  the  standard;  it 
is  the  "  two-and-a-half  point "  size.  When  any 
one  speaks  of  "  a  blanket,"  a  two-and-a-half  point 
blanket  is  meant.  Skins  of  different  animals  are 
said  to  be  worth  so  many  "  blankets." 

The  Tlingit  and  Haida  Indians  of  Alaska  and 
Queen  Charlotte  Islands  used  to  feel  very  proud 
if  they  were  owners  of  "  coppers."  They  did  not 
smelt  copper,  but  they  used  to  beat  it  into  various 
forms.  The  form  most  prized,  called  "  a  copper," 
was  of  no  use,  but  indicated  wealth.  "  Coppers  " 
were  flat  sheets  of  equal  thickness  throughout 
except  at  the  edges,  which  were  thicker  than  the 
body;  there  was  also  upon  them  a  raised  pattern 
something  like  a  T;  sometimes  also  a  face  was 
scratched  upon  their  upper  part.  Such  coppers 
were  formerly  worth  ten  slaves  each.  Lately, 
however,  the  whites  have  taken  to  making  them 
for  trade,  and  they  have  become  so  common  that 
they  are  much  less  prized.  Still,  until  quite 
lately,  they  were  worth  from  forty  to  eighty 
blankets,  or  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  twenty 
dollars. 


8O  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HOLMES.  —  Geologist,  archaeologist,  artist. 
At  present  he  is  at  the  head  of  the  anthropological  work  of  the 
United  States  National  Museum.  Has  written  important  works  : 
among  them,  Art  in  Shell  of  the  Ancient  Americans  and  Ar- 
chceological  Studies  among  the  Ancient  Cities  of  Mexico. 


XII. 

MEDICINE   MEN   AND   SECRET   SOCIETIES. 

ALL  Indians  believe  in  spirits.  Some  are  good 
and  help  men  who  please  them ;  others  are  bad 
and  always  anxious  to  do  harm.  The  spirits  are 
all  about  us.  They  are  in  plants,  and  trees,  and 
rustling  leaves ;  they  are  in  the  wind  and  cloud 
and  rain ;  they  are  in  the  mountain  and  in  the 
brook.  It  is  spirits  that  cause  trouble,  suffering, 
and  death.  When  a  man  is  ill,  some  bad  spirit 
has  taken  away  his  soul  or  has  entered  into  him. 

It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  the  Indians  should 
wish  to  gain  power  over  these  spirits.  If  a  man 
knows  some  words,  the  saying  of  which  will  pro 
tect  him  against  them,  he  is  fortunate ;  fortunate 
is  he,  too,  if  he  knows  some  object  which,  carried, 
will  disarm  them,  or  if  he  can  perform  some  trick 
which  will  put  them  to  flight.  Such  knowledge 
is  what  the  Indians  mean  by  "  medicine "  or 
"  mystery."  Men  who  spend  their  lives  in  trying 
to  gain  such  knowledge  are  called  medicine  men. 
mystery  men,  or  Shamans. 

The  Shaman  among  the  tribes  of  the  Northwest 


MEDICINE   MEN  AND   SECRET  SOCIETIES.  8 1 

Coast  is  an  important  person.  He  decided,  when 
a  boy,  that  he  would  become  a  Shaman.  He 
selected  some  old  Shaman  for  his  teacher  and 
learned  from  him  his  secrets.  .  By  experiments, 


RATTLES  AND   MASKS :   ALASKA.      (FROM  ORIGINALS  IN  PEABODY  MUSEUM.) 

by  dreaming,  and  by  trading  with  other  Shamans 
he  got  other  secrets.  To  help  him  in  his  dealings 
with  spirits  the  Shaman  makes  use  of  many 
devices.  He  sleeps  upon  a  wooden  pillow,  which 
is  carved  with  otter  heads ;  these  are  believed  to 


82  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

whisper  wisdom  to  him  while  he  sleeps.  Upon 
his  dancing-dress  little  carved  figures,  in  ivory, 
are  hung,  which  give  him  spirit  influence,  partly 
by  the  forms  into  which  they  are  cut,  and  partly 
by  the  jingling  noise  they  make  when  he  dances. 
He  wears  a  mask,  the  animal  carvings  on  which 
control  spirits.  He  uses  a  rattle  and  a  tambourine 
to  summon  spirits.  He  has  a  spirit  pole  or  wand 
quaintly  carved,  with  which  he  fences,  fighting 
and  warding  off  spirits  which  he  alone  can  see. 
The  people  sitting  by  see  his  brave  fighting  and 
hear  his  shrieks  and  cries ;  in  this  way  only  they 
can  judge  how  many  and  how  powerful  are  the 
spirits  against  whom  he  is  fighting,  for  their 
good. 

Sometimes  when  dancing  the  Shaman  becomes 
so  excited  that  he  falls  in  a  fit  —  quivering,  gasp 
ing,  struggling.  It  is  believed,  at  such  times, 
either  that  some  mighty  spirit  has  taken  posses 
sion  of  him,  or  that  his  own  soul  has  gone  to  the 
land  of  spirits.  Sometimes  when  he  comes  to 
himself  he  tells  of  his  wonderful  journeys  and 
battles. 

Among  the  Haida  of  the  Queen  Charlotte 
Islands,  when  a  sick  man  is  to  be  cured,  three  or 
four  Shamans  come  together  at  his  side.  All 
sing  and  rattle  until  they  find  out  where  the  soul 
of  the  sick  man  is.  It  may  be  in  the  possession 
of  the  salmon  or  the  oolachen  fish,  or  it  may  be 
held  a  prisoner  by  some  dead  Shaman.  They  go 
to  the  place  where  it  is  supposed  to  be,  and  by 


MEDICINE  MEN  AND  SECRET  SOCIETIES.  83 

singing  and  charms  succeed  in  getting  it  into  a 
carved"  hollow  bone  used  only  for  this  purpose. 
Various  precious  things  are  then  burned  and  the 
soul  bone  held  in  the  smoke.  The  bone  is  then 
laid  by  the  side  of  the  patient's  head  that  his  soul 
may  return. 

Many  astonishing  stories  are  told  of  the  powers 
of  medicine  men.  A  missionary  among  the  Crees, 
Edgerton  R.  Young,  told  me  of  a  white  man  who 
was  once  out  hunting.  He  came  upon  an  old 
medicine  man,  who  begged  him  for  game,  as  he 
was  hungry.  The  white  man  made  sport  of  him, 
saying,  "  You  are  a  great  medicine  man  ;  why  not 
get  game  for  yourself  ?  "  The  old  man  was  en 
raged.  He  cried  out,  "  White  man,  see  yonder 
goose,"  and  pointed  his  finger  into  the  air.  The 
goose  fell  fluttering  at  their  feet,  and  the  old  man 
picked  it  up  and  walked  away.  The  white  man 
really  thought  this  thing  happened.  Perhaps  the 
old  medicine  man  had  hypnotized  him ;  if  so, 
the  only  goose  anywhere  around  was  probably  the 
white  man. 

The  eastern  Algonkins  were  fond  of  medicine 
or  mystery.  Two  great  medicine  men  would 
have  a  contest  to  see  which  was  more  powerful. 
Many  of  their  stories  tell  of  such  contests.  Two 
powers,  which  they  did  seem  to  have,  attracted 
much  attention  and  caused  much  terror.  These 
were  screaming  and  sinking  into  the  ground. 
Leland  quotes  an  Indian  regarding  these :  "  Two 
or  three  weeks  after,  I  was  in  another  place, 


84  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

we  spoke  of  mteoulin  [mystery  men].  The 
white  folks  ridiculed  them.  I  said  there  was 
one  in  Fredericton,  and  I  said  I  would  bet  ten 
dollars  that  he  would  get  the  better  of  them. 
And  they  bet  that  no  Indian  could  do  more  than 
they  could.  So  the  mteoulin  came,  and  first  he 
screamed  so  that  no  one  could,  move.  It  was 
dreadful.  Then  he  took  seven  steps  through 
the  ground  up  to  his  ankles,  just  as  if  it  had  been 
light  snow.  When  I  asked  for  the  ten  dollars, 
the  white  men  paid." 

Ojibwa  medicine  men  have  often  been  tested 
by  white  men  who  doubted  their  powers.  Thus 
one  old  medicine  man  had  two  little  houses  built 
at  some  distance  apart.  He  was  shut  up  in  one, 
and  the  whites  built  a  ring  of  fire  around  it. 
Then,  no  one  could  tell  how,  he  appeared  un 
harmed  walking  out  of  the  other  house.  These 
things  are  no  doubt  tricks  or  delusions,  but  the 
medicine  man's  apparent  ability  to  do  them 
greatly  increased  his  influence  among  the  people. 

Much  use  is  made  of  words  as  charms  and  of 
sacred  numbers.  Four  and  seven  are  sacred 
numbers  among  the  Cherokees.  Once,  wishing 
to  see  his  method  of  curing  disease,  I  asked  the 
old  medicine  man  to  treat  my  lame  arm.  He 
sent  out  for  four  kinds  of  leaves,  which  were  to 
be  fresh  and  young,  and  one  other  sort  which 
was  to  be  dry  and  dead.  The  latter  had  little 
thorns  along  its  edges.  The  old  man  pounded 
up  the  four  kinds  in  warm  water.  He  then 


DANCES   AND   CEREMONIALS.  85 

scratched  the  arm  with  the  other,  nearly  drawing 
blood.  The  arm  was  rubbed  with  the  bruised 
leaves.  The  medicine  man  then  blew  upon  my 
arm  seven  times.  He  went  through  this  opera 
tion  of  rubbing  and  blowing  four  times,  thus 
combining  the  numbers  four  and  seven.  He 
repeated  charms  all  the  time  as  he  rubbed. 

The  Shaman  does  business  as  an  individual. 
He  expects  pay  from  those  who  employ  him. 
His  knowledge  and  power  over  spirits  is  indi 
vidual  and  for  individuals.  Among  some  tribes 
we  find  not  single  medicine  men,  but  great  secret 
societies  which  have  learned  spirit  wisdom  to  use 
for  the  benefit  of  the  society,  or  for  the  good  of 
the  whole  tribe.  Such  secret  societies  are  nota 
ble  in  the  Southwest  —  and  elsewhere.  They 
may  work  to  cure  disease  in  individuals ;  they 
also  work  for  the  whole  tribe.  Among  the  Moki 
Pueblos,  the  societies  of  the  Snake  and  of  the 
Antelope  carry  on  the  snake  dance,  that  the 
whole  people  may  have  rain  for  their  fields. 


XIII. 

DANCES   AND    CEREMONIALS. 

• 

THE  dances  of  Indians  are  sometimes,  like 
our  own,  simply  social  and  for  pleasure.  They 
are  more  frequently  religious  or  for  some  im 
portant  purpose. 


86  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

They  are  always  accompanied  by  music.  In 
dian  music  is  in  perfect  swing  or  time.  Most 
Indian  musical  instruments  are  simply  time 
beaters.  The  commonest  is  the  rattle.  This 
varies  with  place  and  tribe.  Among  Northwest 
Coast  tribes  it  is  of  wood,  elaborately  carved, 
both  in  form  and  decoration.  A  common  rattle 
in  that  district  is  cut  into  the  form  of  a  bird  — 
the  raven.  Some  of  the  old  rattles,  made  and 
used  by  Shamans  a  hundred  years  ago,  are  still 
in  existence :  they  were  probably  carved  with 
knives  and  chisels  of  stone,  but  they  are  better 
done  than  most  of  the  modern  ones,  which  have 
been  cut  out  with  metal  tools.  Some  of  the 
Plains  tribes  had  leather  rattles,  —  balls  of  dried 
skin  fastened  over  the  end  of  a  little  wooden 
handle.  Many  tribes  used  gourds  for  rattles. 
Some  of  these  are  round,  about  the  size  of  an 
apple ;  such  were  pierced  and  a  wooden  handle 
thrust  through.  Others  are  flask  or  bottle 
shaped ;  such  need  no  handle  beyond  the  one 
supplied  by  nature. 

Drums  and  tambourines  of  various  kinds  are 
used  in  time  beating.  The  beaters  usually  take 
no  other  part  in  the  dance,  but  sit  by  themselves 
at^  one  side.  Frequently  each  dancer  has  a  rat 
tle.  Sometimes  a  stick  notched  across  with 
deep  notches  is  used.  Across  these  notches  a 
thin  bone,  usually  a  shoulder-blade,  is  rubbed 
with  a  good  deal  of  force.  Such  rubbed  sticks 
are  very  good  time  beaters.  They  are  used  by 


DANCES   AND   CEREMONIALS.  87 

Apaches,  Pueblos,  and  Tonkaways.  Among  the 
old  Aztecs,  they  had  a  similar  instrument,  but 
made  of  a  long  bone  instead  of  from  a  stick. 

Indians  prepare  for  dances  with  much  care. 
The  hair  is  combed  and  arranged.  The  face 
and  body  are  painted.  A  special  dance  dress 
is  frequently  worn.  This  dress  is  often  of  an 
cient  form  and  decoration.  Sometimes  all  this 
preparation  is  just  to  make  the  dancers  look 
pretty ;  more  frequently,  however,  the  dress  and 
decoration  have  some  meaning,  and  often  they 
mimic  some  creature  or  copy  the  dress  worn  by 
some  great  person  of  their  legends.  Thus  in 
the  buffalo  and  the  bear  dances,  skins  of  buf 
falo,  with  the  head,'  skin,  and  horns  attached, 
or  the  skins  of  bears,  were  put  on,  to  make  the 
dancers  look  like  these  animals. 

The  meaning  and  uses  of  dances  differ  greatly. 
The  war  dance,  in  which  the  men  are  painted 
as  if  for  war  and  have  about  them  everything 
that  can  make  them  think  of  war,  is  intended 
to  influence  them  for  battle.  The  music,  songs, 
movements,  prayers,  and  offerings  all  relate  to 
the  coming  conflict.  The  scalp  dance  is  in 
celebration  of  victory.  The  buffalo  dance  is 
magical  and  is  to  compel  the  coming  of  herds 
of  that  animal.  At  some  dances  the  story  told 
by  the  tribe  in  regard  to  the  creation  of  the 
world  and  how  man  learned  things  is  all  acted 
out;  the  dancers  are  dressed  to  represent  the 
spirits,  or  beings  who  made,  helped,  or  taught 


88  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

the  tribe,  and  the  dance  is  a  real  drama.  Among 
the  Pueblos  and  some  other  southwestern  tribes, 
many  dances  are  prayers  for  rain  ;  the  songs  sung 
and  the  movements  made  all  have  reference  to  the 
rain  so  much  desired. 

In  one  of  these  dances  the  drummers  make 
curious,  beckoning  gestures  to  bring  up  the 
rain  clouds.  In  some  the  dancers  carry  sticks 
curiously  jointed  together  so  as  to  open  and 
shut  in  zigzag  movements,  which  are  meant  to 
look  like  lightning  and  are  believed  to  bring 
it ;  other  dancers  imitate  the  thunder.  Some 
times  the  dancers  and  others  are  drenched  with 
water  thrown  upon  them,  in  order  that  the  town 
and  its  fields  may  be  drenched  with  rain. 

Many  dances  are  only  a  part  of  some  great 
religious  ceremonial.  Thus  the  sun  dance  fol 
lows  several  days  of  fasting  and  prayer,  and  the 
snake  dance  is  but  a  small  part  of  a  nine  days' 
ceremonial.  Indian  religion  abounds  in  such 
long  ceremonials  with  a  vast  number  of  minute 
details.  The  songs,  prayers,  and  significant  ac 
tions  used  in  some  of  them  must  number  many 
hundreds. 

In  order  that  the  desired  result  of  ceremonials 
should  be  secured,  it  was  necessary  that  the  per 
sons  performing  it  should  be  pure.  There  were 
many  ways  to  purify  or  cleanse  oneself.  Some 
times  a  sweat  bath  was  taken,  after  which  the  body 
was  rubbed  with  sweet-smelling  plants.  The  per 
son  might  sit  in  smoke  that  came  from  burning 


DANCES   AND   CEREMONIALS.  89 

some  sacred  herb  or  wood.  He  might  fast  for 
several  days.  He  might  refuse  to  touch  or  come 
into  contact  with  his  friends,  or  with  the  objects 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  using.  Many  times  it  was 
thought  necessary  that  the  objects  which  he  was 
to  use  in  the  ceremony  must  be  new,  or  must  be 
purified  by  being  held  in  sacred  smoke. 

In  ceremonies,  much  attention  is  paid  to  sacred 
numbers.  The  number  most  often  sacred  is  four. 
Four  men  are  often  concerned  in  one  act ;  four 
drums  may  be  used  ;  the  men  may  fast  four  days  ; 
an  action  may  be  repeated  four  times.  If  a  thing 
is  done  sixteen  times,  four  times  four,  it  might  be 
still  better.  In  the  snake-dance  ceremonial  there 
are  sixteen  sacred  songs,  which  are  sung  at  one 
sitting. 

Seven  is  a  sacred  number  among  the  Chero- 
kees;  it  is  less  important  than  four,  but  the  two 
may  be  combined,  and  twenty-eight  often  occurs. 
Thus  the  scratchier  used  upon  the  ball-players  has 
seven  teeth  and  is  drawn  four  times,  making 
twenty-eight  scratches. 

Connected  with  the  sacred  number  four,  the 
Indians  give  much  importance  to  the  cardinal 
points  —  north,  west,  south,  and  east.  They  al 
ways  pay  attention  to  these  when  they  dance  and 
pray.  Some  tribes  recognize  more  than  four 
world's  points,  adding  the  up  and  the  down,  or 
the  above  and  the  below,  making  six  in  all.  A 
few  think  of  the  place  where  they  themselves 
are,  and  speak  of  seven  points ;  so  the  Zuni  have 


QO  AMERICAN    INDIANS. 

the  north,  west,  south,  east,  above,  below,  and  the 
center.  When  they  prepared  their  medicine  lodge 
for  the  sun  dance,  the  Mandans  put  one  of  their 
curious,  turtle-shaped,  skin  water-drums  at  each 
of  the  four  world  quarters.  Usually  in  ceremo 
nials,  Indians  pray  to  each  of  these  quarters,  and 
make  an  offering  toward  it. 

o 

One  of  the  commonest  offerings  made  in  cere 
monials  is  the  smoke  of  tobacco.  Gods  and  spirits 
are  believed  to  be  fond  of  it.  In  smoking  to  their 
honor,  a  puff  is  blown  in  turn  to  each  of  the 
four  points,  and  then  perhaps  up,  and  possibly 
down.  In  the  Pueblos,  every  religious  act  is 
accompanied  by  the  scattering  of  sacred  meal. 
This  sacred  meal  is  a  mixture  of  corn  meal  and 
pounded  sea-shells.  It  is  sprinkled  everywhere  to 
secure  kindly  spirit  influence.  A  pinch  of  it  is 
thrown  to  the  north,  west,  south,  east,  up  and 
down.  Frank  Gushing  once  took  a  party  of 
Zufii  Indians  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  get  sea- 
water  for  certain  ceremonials.  On  the  way,  the 
Indians  saw  many  novel  and  strange  things  which 
they  did  not  understand.  When  they  saw  such, 
they  sprinkled  sacred  meal  to  render  them  harm 
less  and  kindly. 

Prayer  sticks  are  much  used  among  the  Pueb 
los.  They  are  bits  of  stick  to  which  feathers  are 
attached.  They  are  set  up  wherever  it  is  de 
sired  to  have  the  good  will  of  spirit  powers.  For 
several  days  before  the  Moki  snake  dance,  mes 
sengers  are  sent  out  with  prayer  sticks  to  be  set 


DANCES   AND   CEREMONIALS.  Ql 

up  near  springs  and  sacred  places.  Such  prayer 
sticks  are  put  up  near  fields  where  corn  is  planted, 
or  buried  in  the  earth  in  corrals  where  ponies  or 
burros  are  kept.  Other  offerings  are  made  at  es 
pecially  sacred  spots.  In  mountain  caves  there 
are  often  masses  of  prayer  sticks,  miniature  bows 
and  arrows,  and  other  tiny  things  meant  as  gifts 
to  the  gods. 

Each  of  the  cardinal  points  may  have  a  color 
that  is  proper  to  it.  The  use  of  sacred  colors  for 
the  cardinal  points  is  found  among  the  Pueblos, 
Navajo,  many  Siouan  tribes,  the  Pani,  and  others. 
It  was  the  custom  also  among  the  old  Aztecs  in 
Mexico.  A  curious  example  of  the  use  of  these 
colors  is  found  in  the  sand  altars  of  the  Pueblos 
and  Navajo.  They  are  made  in  many  ceremo 
nials.  They  are  made  of  different  colored  sands 
produced  by  pounding  up  rocks.  The  sand  al 
tars  are  rectangular  in  form,  and  are  made  on  the 
floor.  A  layer  of  one  color  of  sand  may  be  spread 
out  for  a  foundation ;  upon  it  may  be  put  a  sheet 
of  sand  of  a  different  color  and  of  smaller  size,  so 
that  the  margin  of  the  first  serves  as  a  border  of 
the  second ;  additional  layers  may  be  added,  each 
bordering  the  one  that  follows  it.  Finally,  upon 
the  topmost  layer,  curious  and  interesting  designs 
may  be  made.  One  sand  altar  in  the  Moki  snake 
dance  had  an  outer  broad  border  of  brownish 
yellow  sand  ;  then  followed  broad  borders  of  white 
and  black ;  upon  this  black  border  were  four 
snakes  in  red,  green,  yellow,  and  blue,  one  on  each 


92  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

side  of  the  square ;  then  came  narrower  borders 
of  white,  red,  green,  yellow,  one  within  the  other ; 
within  these  was  a  central  square  of  green,  upon 
which  was  a  yellow  mountain  lion. 

You  see  that  Indian  ceremonials  are  often  very 
complex,  with  many  dances,  decorations,  purify- 
ings,  prayers,  gifts,  and  altars. 


XIV. 

BURIAL  AND   GRAVES. 

ALMOST  all  savage  and  barbarous  peoples  look 
upon  death  as  due  to  bad  spirits,  to  witchcraft,  or 
to  violence.  They  cannot  realize  that  men  should 
die  of  old  age.  Disease  is  generally  thought  to 
be  due  to  bad  spirits  or  to  the  influence  of  some 
medicine  man. 

After  a  man  dies  there  are  many  ways  of  treat 
ing  the  body.  Usually  the  face  is  painted  almost 
as  if  the  person  were  preparing  for  a  feast  or  a 
dance.  The  Otoes  and  many  other  tribes  dress 
out  the  body  in  its  choicest  clothing  and  finest 
ornaments. 

Probably  burial  in  the  ground  is  the  common 
est  way  of  disposing  of  the  dead  body.  The 
exact  method  varies.  The  grave  may  be  deep,  or 
it  may  be  so  shallow  as  hardly  to  be  a  grave  at 
all.  The  body  may  be  laid  in  extended  to  its 
full  length,  or  it  may  be  bent  and  folded  together 


BURIAL  AND   GRAVES.  93 

into  the  smallest  possible  space,  and  tied  securely 
in  this  way.  Great  attention  is  frequently  given 
to  the  direction  toward  which  the  face  or  the  body 
is  turned.  Among  some  tribes  it  makes  no  dif 
ference  whether  the  earth  touches  the  body;  in 
others  the  greatest  care  is  taken  to  prevent  this. 

The  Sacs  and  Foxes  in  Iowa  have  their  grave 
yards  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  high  above  the  sur 
rounding  country.  The  graves  are  shallow;  the 
body,  wrapped  in  blankets,  is  laid  out  at  full 
length ;  little,  if  any,  earth  is  thrown  directly 
upon  the  body,  but  a  little  arched  covering  made 
of  poles  laid  side  by  side,  lengthwise  of  the  body, 
is  built  over  it,  and  a  little  earth  may  be  thrown 
upon  it.  A  pole  is  set  at  the  head  of  the  grave 
to  the  top  of  which  is  hung  a  bit  of  rag  or  a  little 
cloth,  the  flapping  of  which,  perhaps,  keeps  off 
bad  spirits.  Various  objects  are  laid  upon  the 
grave :  for  men,  bottles,  and  perhaps  knives ;  for 
women,  buckets  and  pans,  such  as  are  used  in 
their  daily  work;  for  little  children,  the  baby- 
boards  on  which  they  used  to  lie,  and  the  little 
toys  of  which  they  were  fond. 

Sometimes  grave-boxes  were  made  of  slabs  of 
stone.  Such  are  known  in  various  parts  of  the 
United  States,  but  are  most  common  in  Tennes 
see,  where  ancient  cemeteries,  with  hundreds  of 
such  graves,  are  known.  (See  XV.  Mounds  and 
their  Builders.)  Sometimes  the  bodies  of  those 
lately  dead  were  buried  in  these,  but  sometimes 
there  were  placed  in  them  the  dry  bones  of  people 


94  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

long  dead,  who  had  been  buried  elsewhere,  01 
whose  bodies  had  been  exposed  for  a  time  on 
scaffolds  or  in  dead-houses.  Among  several 
northeastern  tribes  it  was  the  custom  to  place  the 
bodies  for  some  time  in  dead-houses,  or  temporary 
graves,  and  at  certain  times  to  collect  together  all 
the  bones,  and  bury  them  at  once  in  some  great 
trench  or  hole. 

Most  tribes  buried  objects  with  the  dead. 
With  a  man  were  buried  his  bow  and  arrows,  war- 
club,  and  choicest  treasures.  The  woman  was 
accompanied  by  her  ornaments,  tools,  and  uten 
sils.  Even  the  child  had  with  it  its  little  toys 
and  cradle,  as  we  have  seen  in  connection  with 
the  Sacs  and  Foxes.  The  Indians  believed  that 
people  have  souls  which  live  somewhere  after  the 
men  die.  These  souls  hereafter  delight  to  do  the 
same  things  the  men  did  here.  There  they  hunt, 
and  fish,  and  war,  work  and  play,  eat  and  drink. 
So  weapons  and  tools,  food  and  drink,  were  placed 
with  the  body  in  the  grave. 

They  knew  perfectly  well  that  the  things  do 
not  go  away ;  they  believed,  however,  that  things 
have  souls,  as  men  do,  and  that  it  is  the  soul  of 
the  things  that  goes  with  the  soul  of  the  man  into 
the  land  of  spirits.  Among  tribes  that  are  great 
horsemen,  like  the  Comanches,  a  man's  ponies 
are  killed  at  his  death.  His  favorite  horse,  decked 
out  in  all  his  trappings,  is  killed  at  the  grave,  so 
that  the  master  may  go  properly  mounted.  When 
a  little  child  among  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  dies,  a 


BURIAL  AND  GRAVES.  95 

little  dog  is  killed  at  the  grave  to  accompany  the 
child  soul,  and  help  the  poor  little  one  to  find  its 
way  to  the  spirit  world.  Such  destruction  or 
burial  of  property  may  be  very  nice  for  the  dead 
man's  soul,  but  it  is  not  nice  for  the  man's  sur 
vivors,  who  are  sometimes  quite  beggared  by  it. 

Sometimes  the  objects  put  into  or  upon  a  grave 
are  broken,  pierced,  or  bent.  The  purpose  in 
thus  making  the  objects  "  dead  "  has  sometimes 
been  said  to  be  to  set  free  the  soul  of  the  object; 
far  more  frequently,  it  is  likely  that  it  is  to  pre 
vent  bad  persons  robbing  the  grave  for  its  treas 
ures. 

Cremation  or  burning  the  dead  body  was  found 
among  a  number  of  Indian  tribes,  particularly 
upon  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  Senel  in  California 
and  some  Oregon  tribes  are  among  these.  So 
are  the  Tlingit  of  Alaska  and  their  near  neigh 
bors  and  kin,  the.  Haida  of  Queen  Charlotte 
Islands.  Among  the  last  two  tribes  all  but  the 
Shamans  were  usually  burned.  The  Shamans 
were  buried  in  boxes  raised  on  tall  posts.  After 
a  Tlingit  or  Haida  body  was  burned  the  ashes 
were  usually  gathered  and  placed  in  a  little  box- 
like  cavity  excavated  in  an  upright  post  near  its 
base;  at  the  top  of  this  post  was  a  cross-board  on 
which  was  carved  or  painted  the  totem  or  crest  of 
the  dead  man. 

Where  there  were  great  caves  (as  in  Kentucky), 
and  where  the  people  dwelt  in  caverns  (as  at  one 
time  in  the  Southwest),  the  dead  were  often  laid 


96 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


away  in  some  corner  of  the  cave.  In  almost  all 
such  cases  the  body  was  folded  into  the  small 
est  space,  with  the  knees  drawn  up  against  the 
chin;  it  was  then  wrapped  up  in  blankets  and 
robes  and  corded.  Such  bodies  were  generally 
not  buried,  but  simply  stowed  away.  These  dried 
bodies  are  sometimes  called  "  mummies,"  but  that 
name  should  only  be  used  when  something  has 


SCAFFOLD  BURIAL.      (AFTER  YARROW.) 

been  done  to  the  body  with  the  definite  purpose 
of  preserving  it. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  box  burial 
in  connection  with  the  Tlingit  and  Haida  Sha 
mans.  Many  Eskimos  bury  their  dead  in  boxes 
supported  on  posts.  The  weapons,  tools,  and 
utensils  of  the  dead  are  usually  stuck  upon  the 
posts  or  hung  over  the  boxes.  The  Ponkas  also 


BURIAL  AND   GRAVES.  97 

bury  in  raised  boxes,  and  at  their  present  reser 
vation  in  Oklahoma  there  are  two  extensive  cem 
eteries  of  this  kind. 

Among  some  tribes  in  the  extreme  north- 
western  part  of  the  United  States  canoes  are 
used  instead  of  boxes.  They  are  supported 
above  ground  by  posts.  Usually  two  canoes  are 
used;  the  body  is  placed  in  the  lower,  larger  one; 
the  smaller  one  is  turned  upside  down  over  the 
corpse  and  fits  within  the  larger.  In  the  Missis 
sippi  and  Missouri  valley  region  many  Siouan 
tribes  placed  their  dead  upon  scaffolds,  supported 
by  poles  at  a  height  of  six  or  eight  feet  in  the  air. 
Extensive  cemeteries  of  this  kind  used  to  occupy 
high  points  overlooking  the  rivers;  they  could 
be  seen  —  dreary  sights  —  a  long  way  across  the 
country.  Some  tribes  in  wooded  districts  placed 
the  dead  in  trees.  Often  scaffold  and  tree  burial 
were  only  temporary,  the  body  being  later  taken 
elsewhere  for  permanent  burial.  One  time,  visit 
ing  a  winter  camp  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  far 
from  their  permanent  village,  we  saw  a  strange 
bundle  in  a  tree.  It  was  the  blanketed  corpse  of 
an  old  woman  who  had  died  a  few  days  before ; 
the  party  took  it  with  them  when  they  returned 
home  in  the  spring. 

We  should  find  some  of  the  mourning  customs 
interesting.  The  friends  of  the  dead  wail  and 
scream  fearfully;  they  cut  off  their  hair;  they 
gash  their  bodies ;  they  sometimes  even  chop  off 
their  finger  tips  or  whole  joints.  They  watch  by 


98 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


OJIBWA    GRAVEPOST.      (FROM 
SCHOOLCRAFT.) 


the  grave  —  this  is  particularly 
true  of  women.  Food  and  drink 
are  often  carried  to  the  grave 
for  some  time  after  the  burial. 
Fires  are  kindled  to  supply  light 
or  heat  to  the  soul  on  its  long 
journey. 

Not  many  tribes  have  special 
posts  or  marks  at  the  grave.     A 
few    do.      The    Ojibwa    made 
such  with  much  care.     Usually 
they    bore    pictures    or    marks 
telling  about  the  dead  man. 
His  totem  animal  was  often 
represented,  usually  upside 
down  to  indicate  that  the 
bearer  of  the  emblem  was 
dead. 


H.  C.  YARROW. —  Army  physician,  ethnologist.  Wrote,  among 
other  papers,  A  Further  Contribution  to  the  Study  of  the  Mor 
tuary  Customs  of  the  North  American  Indians. 


XV. 

MOUNDS   AND   THEIR   BUILDERS. 

IN  many  parts  of  the  United  States,  from 
western  New  York  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
even  beyond,  there  are  great  numbers  of  artificial 
heaps  and  extensive  embankments  of  earth, 


MOUNDS  AND  THEIR  BUILDERS.  99 

These  show  skill  in  construction,  and  from  them 
have  been  dug  many  relics  of  artistic  merit  and 
good  workmanship.  At  one  time  these  earth 
works  and  relics  were  generally  believed  to  be 
the  work  of  a  single,  highly  civilized  people,  who 
preceded  the  Indians,  who  were  not  related  to 
them,  and  who  are  now  extinct.  To  this  people 
the  name  "mound-builders"  was  given. 

There  are  three  ways  in  which  we  can  learn 
about  these  so-called  "  mound-builders."  We 
may  learn  something  from  the  mounds  them 
selves,  from  the  relics  found  in  the  mounds,  and 
from  the  bones  of  persons  who  were  buried  in 
them. 

Studying  the  mounds  themselves,  we  find  that 
they  differ  in  different  areas.  We  will  look  at 
three  areas : 

(i)  In  Ohio  there  are  thousands  of  mounds 
and  earthworks.  Near  every  important  modern 
town  there  are  groups  of  them.  Cincinnati, 
Chillicothe,  Dayton,  Xenia,  are  all  near  important 
mounds. 

The  regular  enclosures  are  numerous  in  this 
area:  these  are  great  embankments  of  earth  in 
closing  a  regular  space.  Some  are  in  the  form 
of  circles ;  others  are  four-sided ;  in  a  few  cases 
they  are  eight-sided.  Sometimes  a  square  and  a 
circle  are  united.  There  is  one  such  combina 
tion  at  Hopeton ;  one  of  the  embankments  is  a 
nearly  true  circle  containing  twenty  acres ;  joined 
to  it  is  a  square  of  almost  the  same  area. 


100  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

At  Newark  there  was  a  wonderful  group  of 
enclosures.  The  group  covered  about  two  miles 
square  and  consisted  of  three  divisions,  which 
were  connected  with  one  another  by  long  parallel 
embankment  walls.  One  circle  in  this  group 
contained  more  than  thirty  acres :  the  walls  were 
twelve  feet  high  and  fifty  feet  wide ;  a  ditch  seven 
feet  deep  and  thirty-five  feet  wide  bordered  it  on 
the  inner  side ;  a  gap  of  eighty  feet  in  the  circle 
served  as  an  entrance.  In  the  center  of  the  area 
enclosed  by  this  great  circle  was  a  curious  earth 
heap  somewhat  like  a  bird  in  form.  Northwest 
from  this  great  circle,  nearly  a  mile  distant,  were 
two  connected  enclosures,  one  octagonal,  the 
other  circular:  the  former  contained  more  than 
fifty  acres,  the  latter  twenty.  East  from  these 
and  northeast  from  the  great  circle  was  a  fine 
twenty-acre  enclosure,  nearly  a  square  in  form. 
Besides  these  great  walls,  there  were  long  parallel 
lines  of  connecting  embankment  walls,  small 
circular  enclosures,  and  little  mounds  in  consider 
able  variety.  This  great  mass  of  works  repre 
sented  an  enormous  amount  of  time  and  labor. 

What  was  the  purpose  of  these  regular  en 
closures  ?  Some  writers  claim  that  they  were 
forts  for  protection  ;  others  consider  them  protec 
tions  for  the  corn-fields ;  others  think  they  were 
places  for  games  or  religious  ceremonials ;  one 
eminent  man  insists  that  they  were  foundations 
upon  which  were  built  long  and  narrow  houses. 

"  Altar   mounds "  occur    in    Ohio.      Professor 


MOUNDS   AND   THEIR   BUILDERS.  IOI 

Putnam  and  his  assistants  opened  a  number  of 
these.  They  are  small,  rounded  heaps  of  earth. 
At  their  center  is  a  basin-shaped  mass  of  hard 
clay  showing  the  effect  of  fire.  These  basins  are 
a  yard  or  four  feet  across  and  contain  ashes  and 
charcoal.  Upon  these  are  found  many  curious 
objects.  On  one  altar  were  two  bushels  of  orna 
ments  made  of  stone,  copper,  mica,  shells,  bears' 
teeth,  and  sixty  thousand  pearls.  Most  of  these 
objects  were  pierced  with  a  small  hole  and  were 
apparently  strung  as  ornaments.  These  objects 
had  all  been  thrown  into  a  fire  blazing  on  the 
altar  and  had  been  spoiled  by  the  heat.  After 
the  kindling  of  the  fire,  and  the  destruction  of 
these  precious  things,  earth  had  been  heaped  up 
over  the  altars,  completing  the  mound. 

The  most  famous  mound  in  Ohio  is  the  great 
serpent  in  Adams  County.  It  lies  upon  a  narrow 
ridge  between  three  streams,  which  unite.  It  is 
a  gigantic  serpent  form  made  in  earth  ;  across  the 
widely  opened  jaws  it  measures  seventy-five  feet ; 
the  body,  just  behind  the  head,  measures  thirty 
feet  across  and  five  feet  high  ;  following  the  curves 
the  length  is  thirteen  hundred  forty-eight  feet. 
The  tail  is  thrown  into  a  triple  coil.  In  front  of 
the  serpent  is  an  elliptical  enclosure  with  a  heap 
of  stones  at  its  center.  Beyond  this  is  a  form, 
somewhat  indistinct,  thought  by  some  to  be  a  frog. 
Probably  this  wonderful  earthwork  was  connected 
with  some  old  religion.  While  there  are  many 
other  earthworks  of  other  forms  in  Ohio,  the 


IO2 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


sacred  enclosures,  the  altar  mounds,  and  the  great 
serpent  are  the  most  characteristic. 

(2)  In  Wisconsin  the  most  interesting  mounds 
are  the  effigy  mounds.  There  are  great  numbers 
of  them  in  parts  of  this  and  a  few  adjoining  states. 


GREAT  SERPENT  MOUND:   OHIO.      (FROM  THE  CENTURY   MAGAZINE.) 

They  are  earthen  forms  of  mammals,  birds,  and 
reptiles.  They  are  usually  in  groups ;  they  are 
generally  well  shaped  and  of  gigantic  size.  Among 
the  quadrupeds  represented  are  the  buffalo,  moose, 
elk,  deer,  fox,  wolf,  panther,  and  lynx.  Mr.  Peet, 
who.  has  carefully  studied  them,  shows  that  quad- 


MOUNDS  AND   THEIR   BUILDERS.  103 

ruped  mammals  are  always  represented  in  profile 
so  that  only  two  legs  are  shown ;  the  birds  have 
their  wings  spread ;  reptiles  sprawl,  showing  all 
four  legs ;  fish  are  mere  bodies  without  limbs. 
We  have  said  these  earth  pictures  are  gigantic : 
some  panthers  have  tails  three  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  long,  and  some  eagles  measure  one  thousand 
feet  from  tip  to  tip  of  the  outspread  wings.  Not 
only  are  these  great  animal  and  bird  pictures  found 
in  Wisconsin  in  relief ;  occasionally  they  are  found 
cut  or  sunken  in  the  soil.  With  these  curious 
effigy  mounds  there  occur  hundreds  of  simple 
burial  mounds. 

The  purpose  of  the  effigy  mounds  is  somewhat 
uncertain.  Some  authors  think  they  represent 
the  totem  animals  after  which  the  families  of 
their  builders  were  named,  and  that  they  served 
as  objects  of  worship  or  as  guardians  over  the 
villages. 

(3)  Farther  south,  in  western  Tennessee,  an 
other  class  of  mounds  is  common.  These  contain 
graves  made  of  slabs  of  stone  set  on  edge.  The 
simplest  of  these  stone  graves  consist  of  six 
stones :  two  sides,  two  ends,  one  top,  and  one 
bottom.  There  may  be  a  single  one  of  these 
graves  in  a  mound,  or  there  may  be  many.  In 
one  mound,  about  twelve  miles  from  Nashville, 
which  was  forty-five  feet  across  and  twelve  feet 
high,  were  found  about  one  hundred  skeletons, 
mostly  in  stone  graves,  which  were  in  ranges,  one 
above  another.  The  upper  graves  contained  the 


GROUND   PLAN  OF  EARTHWORKS  AT   NEWARK,    OHIO.      (AFTER  SQUIER 
AND   DAVIS.) 


MOUNDS   AND   THEIR   BUILDERS.  1 05 

bones  of  bodies,  which  had  been  buried  stretched 
at  full  length ;  the  bones  were  found  in  their 
natural  positions.  The  lower  graves  were  short 
and  square,  and  the  bones  in  them  had  been 
cleaned  and  piled  up  in  little  heaps.  This  mound 
was  very  carefully  made.  The  lids  of  the  upper 
graves  were  so  arranged  as  to  make  a  perfectly 
smooth,  rounded  surface.  Sometimes  these  stone 
graves  of  Tennessee  are  not  placed  in  mounds, 
but  in  true  graveyards  in  the  level  fields.  In 
these  stone  graves  are  found  beautiful  objects  of 
stone,  shell,  and  pottery.  The  stone-grave  men 
were  true  artists  in  working  these  materials. 

In  the  same  district  are  found  many  dirt  rings 
called  "  house-circles."  These  occur  in  groups 
and  appear  to  mark  the  sites  of  ancient  villages, 
each  being  the  ruin  of  a  house.  These  rings  are 
nearly  circular  and  from  ten  to  fifty  feet  across, 
and  from  a  few  inches  to  two  or  three  feet  high. 
Excavation  within  them  shows  old  floors  made  of 
hard  clay,  with  the  fireplace  or  hearth.  The  stone- 
grave  people  lived  in  these  houses.  They  often 
buried  little  children  who  died,  under  the  floor. 
Their  stone  coffins  measured  only  from  one  to 
four  feet  long.  They  contain  the  little  skeletons 
and  all  the  childish  treasures  —  pretty  cups  and 
bowls  of  pottery,  shell  beads,  pearls,  and  even  the 
leg  bones  of  birds,  on  which  the  babies  used  to 
cut  their  teeth  as  our  babies  do  on  rubber  rings. 

These  are  but  three  of  the  areas  where  mounds 
are  found ;  there  are  several  others.  If  the 


io6 


AMERICAN  INDIANS. 


•'mound-builders"  were  a  single  people,  with 
one  set  of  customs,  one  language,  and  one  gov 
ernment,  it  is  strange  that  there  should  be  such 
great  differences  in  the  mounds  they  built.  If 
we  had  space  to  speak  about  the  relics  from  the 
mounds,  they  would  tell  a  story. 

They  would  show  that  the  builders  of  the 
mounds,  while  they  made  many  beautiful  things 
of  stone,  shell,  bone,  beaten  metals,  could  not 


SHELL  GORGETS:   TENNESSEE.      (AFTER   HOLMES.) 

smelt  ores.  They  were  Stone  Age  men,  not 
civilized  men.  The  objects  from  different  areas 
differ  so  much  in  kind,  pattern,  and  material  as 
to  suggest  that  their  makers  were  not  one  people. 
Study  of  skulls  from  mounds  in  one  district  — 
as  Ohio  or  Iowa  —  show  that  different  types  of 
men  built  the  mounds  even  of  one  area. 

So  neither  the  mounds,  the  relics,  nor  the 
remains  prove  that  there  was  one  people,  the 
"  mound-builders,"  but  rather  that  the  mounds 


MOUNDS  AND  THEIR   BUILDERS.  IO/ 

were  built  by  many  different  tribes.  These 
tribes  were  not  of  civilized,  but  of  barbarous, 
Stone  Age  men.  It  is  likely  that  some  of  the 
tribes  that  built  the  mounds  still  live  in  the 
United  States.  Thus  the  Shawnees  may  be 
the  descendants  of  the  stone-grave  people,  the 
Winnebagoes  may  have  come  from  the  effigy- 
builders  of  Wisconsin,  and  the  Cherokees  may 
be  the  old  Ohio  "  mound-builders." 

E.  G.  SQUIER  and  E.  H.  DAVIS.  —  Authors  of  Ancient 
Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  published  in  1847.  It 
was  the  first  great  work  on  American  Archaeology. 

INCREASE  ALLEN  LAPHAM.  —  Civil  engineer,  scientist.  His 
Antiquities  of  Wisconsin  was  published  in  1855. 

STEPHEN  D.  PEET.  —  Minister,  antiquarian,  editor.  Estab 
lished  The  American  Antiquarian,  which  he  still  conducts. 
Wrote  Emblematic  Mounds. 

CYRUS  THOMAS.  —  Minister,  entomologist,  archaeologist.  In 
charge  of  the  mound  exploration  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 
Wrote  Burial  Mounds  of  the  Northern  Sections  of  the  United 
States  and  Report  of  the  Mound  Explorations  of  the  Bureau 
of  Ethnology. 

FREDERIC  WARD  PUTNAM.  —  Ichthyologist,  archaeologist, 
teacher.  For  many  years  Curator  of  the  Peabody  Museum  of 
Ethnology,  at  Cambridge,  Mass.  Has  organized  much  field 
work  upon  mounds  of  Ohio  and  Tennessee.  Also  Curator  in 
Anthropology  at  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History  in 
New  York. 


108  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

XVI. 
THE   ALGONKINS. 

ALGONKIN  tribes  occupied  the  Atlantic  seacoast 
from  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  south  to 
Virginia,  and  stretched  west  as  far,  at  places,  as 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  They  also  occupied  a 
large  area  in  the  interior  of  British  America  north 
of  the  Great  Lakes.  Brinton  names  more  than 
thirty  tribes  of  this  great  group.  Among  the 
best  known  of  these  were  the  Lenape  (Delawares), 
Blackfeet,  Ojibwas,  and  Crees. 

It  was  chiefly  Algonkin  tribes  with  whom  the 
first  white  settlers  met.  The  Indians  who  sup 
plied  the  Pilgrims  with  corn  in  that  first  dread 
ful  winter  were  Algonkins;  so  were  Powhatan 
and  Pocahontas,  King  Philip  and  Massasoit.  Of 
course  whites  came  into  contact  with  the  Iro- 
quois  in  New  York,  and  with  the  Cherokees,  the 
Creeks,  and  their  kin  in  the  south,  but  much  the 
larger  part  of  their  early  Indian  acquaintance  was 
Algonkin. 

There  are  a  number  of  borrowed  Indian  words 
in  our  English  language  of  to-day.  Wigwam, 
wampiim,  squaw,  papoose,  moccasin,  are  examples. 
These  have  been  taken  from  the  Indian  lan 
guages  into  our  own,  and  most  of  them  — 
all  of  those  mentioned  —  are  Algonkin.  They 
soon  became  common  to  English  speakers,  and 


THE  ALGONKINS.  IO9 

were  carried  by  them  everywhere  they  went.  All 
the  western  tribes  had  their  own  names  for  all 
these  objects,  but  we  have  forced  these  upon 
them,  and  to-day  we  may  hear  Utes  speak  of  wig 
wams  and  Navajo  talk  about  squaws  or  moccasins. 

We  shall  speak  of  two  Algonkin  tribes.  One 
—  the  Lenape  —  is  eastern;  the  other — the  Black- 
feet  —  is  western.  The  former  are  woodland,  the 
latter  Plains  Indians.  The  Lenape  lived  in  settled 
villages,  and  had  a  good  deal  of  agriculture;  they 
were  also  hunters,  fishermen,  and  warriors.  Their 
houses  were  like  those  of  their  Iroquois  neigh 
bors,  but  each  family  had  its  own.  They  were 
huts  of  poles  and  interwoven  branches  with  a 
thatching  of  corn  leaves,  the  stalk  of  sweet-flag, 
or  the  bark  of  trees.  Sometimes  at  the  center 
of  the  village,  surrounded  by  the  houses,  was  a 
sort  of  hillock  or  mound  from  which  the  country 
around  might  be  overlooked.  The  women  made 
good  garments  of  deerskin  with  skillful  beadwork. 
In  cooking  they  used  soapstone  vessels.  For 
pounding  corn  they  had  mortars  of  wood,  dug 
out  of  a  section  of  a  tree  trunk,  and  long  stone 
pestles. 

In  districts  where  the  wild  rice  or  zizania  grew 
abundantly  great  quantities  of  it  were  gathered. 
The  women  in  canoes  paddled  out  among  the 
plants,  bent  the  heads  over  the  edge  of  the  canoe 
and  beat  out  the  grain.  This  was  a  food  supply 
of  no  importance  to  the  Lenape,  but  the  Ojibwas 
and  their  neighbors  used  much  of  it. 


THE  ALGONKINS.  Ill 

In  war,  the  men  used  the  bow  and  arrows,  spear 
and  tomahawk.  They  protected  themselves  with 
round  shields.  They  speared  fish  in  the  streams 
and  lakes  or  caught  them  in  brush  nets  or  with 
hooks  of  bone  or  bird-claws. 

There  were  three  totems  of  the  Lenape.  Every 
man  was  either  a  wolf,  turkey,  or  turtle.  He  had 
one  of  these  three  animals  for  his  emblem,  and 
was  as  fond  of  drawing  or  carving  it  as  a  boy 
among  us  is  of  writing  his  name.  This  emblem 
was  signed  to  treaties,  it  was  painted  on  the 
houses,  it  was  carved  on  stones.  But  only  those 
who  were  turtles  drew  their  totem  entire ;  usually 
the  wolf  or  the  turkey  were  represented  only  by 
one  foot.  Between  a  person  and  his  totem  there 
was  a  curious  friendship,  and  it  was  believed  that 
the  animal  was  a  sort  of  protector  and  friend  of 
those  who  bore  his  name.  All  who  had  the  same 
totem  were  blood-relations. 

All  Algonkins  were  accustomed  to  draw  pic 
tures  to  record  events.  The  blankets  of  chiefs 
were  decorated  with  such  pictures.  The  Ojibwas 
were  fond  of  writing  birch-bark  letters.  One  of 
the  most  interesting  Indian  records  known  is  the 

o 

Walam  olum ;  this  means  the  red  score  or  red 
record.  Probably  it  at  first  consisted  of  a  lot  of 
little  sticks  or  boards  with  some  quaint  red  pic 
tures  upon  them.  These  were  probably  kept  tied 
together  into  a  little  bundle.  The  original  sticks 
have  long  been  lost,  but  the  one  hundred  and 
eighty-four  pictures  were  copied  and  are  still 


112  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

preserved.  They  were  intended  to  assist  in  re 
membering  a  long  poetical  legend  in  which  the 
Algonkin  ideas  regarding  the  creation  of  the 
world  and  their  tribal  history  were  told. 

At  first  everything  was  good.  Animals  and 
men  lived  in  peace.  Then  a  wicked  serpent 
tried  to  drown  the  world.  Only  a  few  persons 
escaped  to  the  back  of  a  great  turtle.  Their 
great  hero  Nanabush  helped  them.  The  waters 
subsided.  As  the  land  where  they  now  found 
themselves  was  cold,  the  people  determined  to 
move  southward.  The  story  of  their  quarrels 
and  divisions  on  the  journey  is  told,  and  also  the 
way  in  which  they  seized  their  new  home,  de 
stroying  or  driving  out  the  original  owners. 

The  song  in  which  this  story  is  told  is  long 
and  full  of  old  words  difficult  to  understand. 
The  Indians  themselves  must  have  had  difficulty 
in  remembering  it.  It  was  a  great  help  to  have 
these  little  sticks  with  the  red  pictures  to  remind 
them  of  its  different  parts. 

Far  to  the  west,  close  against  the  base  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  lived  a  famous  Algonkin 
tribe  —  the  Blackfeet.  They  were  great  buffalo 
hunters  and  warriors.  We  often  think  of  Indians 
as  being  stern  and  morose,  never  smiling,  never 
amused.  Yet  most  tribes  had  sunny  tempers 
like  children.  Mr.  Grinnell,  to  show  this  side 
of  Indian  nature,  describes  a  day  in  camp  in  the 
olden,  happy  time.  Two  parts  of  his  description 
describe  feasts  and  gambling.  Feasts  were  in 


THE  ALGONKINS.  113 

constant  progress :  sometimes  one  man  would 
give  three  in  a  day ;  men  who  were  favorites 
might  go  from  feast  to  feast  all  day  long.  If  a  man 
wished  to  give  a  feast,  he  ordered  the  best  food 
he  had  to  be  cooked.  Then,  going  outside,  he 
called  out  the  list  of  invited  guests  :  the  name 
of  each,  one  was  cried  three  times.  At  the  close 
of  his  invitation  he  announced  how  many  pipes 
would  be  smoked:  usually  three.  When  the 
guests  came,  each  was  given  a  dish,  with  his 
share  of  the  food ;  no  one  might  have  a  second 
help,  but  it  was  quite  polite  to  carry  away  what 
was  not  eaten. 

While  the  guests  were  feasting,  the  man  of  the 
house  prepared  a  pipe  and  tobacco.  After  the 
eating  was  over,  the  pipe  was  lighted  and  passed 
from  hand  to  hand,  each  person  giving  it  to  the 
one  on  his  left.  Meantime  stories  of  hunting 
and  war  were  narrated  and  jokes  cracked.  Only 
one  man  spoke  at  one  time,  the  rest  listening  until 
he  was  through.  Thus  they  whiled  away  the  time 
until  the  last  pipe  was  smoked  out,  when  the 
host,  knocking  the  ashes  from  the  pipe,  told  them 
they  might  go. 

All  Indians  are  gamblers,  and  they  have  many 
gambling  games.  The  Blackfeet  played  one 
which  was  something  like  the  famous  game  of 
Chunkey,  played  among  the  Creeks.  (See  XIX.) 
A  wheel  about  four  inches  in  diameter  with  five 
spokes  on  which  were  beads  of  different  colors, 
made  of  horn  or  bone,  was  used.  It  was  rolled 


114 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


along  upon  a  smooth  piece  of  ground  at  the  ends 
of  which  logs  were  laid  to  stop  it.  One  player 
stood  at  each  end  of  the  course.  After  a  player 
set  the  wheel  to  rolling,  he  hurled  a  dart  after  it. 
This  was  done  just  before  the  wheel  reached  the 
end  of  its  journey.  Points  were  counted  accord- 
ing  to  the  way  in  which  the  wheel  and  dart  fell 
with  reference  to  each  other.  Ten  counts  made 


BLACKFOOT  SQUAW  TRAVELING. 

the  game.  This  game  always  attracted  great 
crowds  of  spectators,  who  became  greatly  excited 
and  bet  heavily  on  the  result. 

At  night  about  their  camp-fires  the  Blackfeet 
delighted  to  tell  their  sacred  stories,  which  they 
did  not  dare  repeat  in  daylight.  In  telling  a 
story  of  personal  adventure,  Indians,  like  white 
people,  were  often  tempted  to  make  it  larger  than 
it  really  was. 


THE  SIX  NATIONS.  1 15 

The  Blackfeet  and  some  other  Indians  had  the 
following  mode  of  getting  at  the  truth.  When  a 
man  told  an  improbable  story  some  one  handed 
a  pipe  to  the  medicine  man,  who  painted  the  stem 
red  and  prayed  over  it,  asking  that  the  man's  life 
might  be  long  if  his  story  were  true,  but  cut  short 
if  the  story  were  false.  The  pipe  was  then  filled 
and  lighted  and  given  to  the  man.  The  medi 
cine  man  said,  as  he  handed  it  to  him :  "  Accept 
this  pipe,  but  remember  that  if  you  smoke,  your 
story  must  be  as  sure  as  that  there  is  a  hole 
through  this  pipe  and  as  straight  as  the  hole 
through  this  stem.  So  your  life  shall  be  long 
and  you  shall  survive  ;  but  if  you  have  spoken 
falsely,  your  days  are  counted."  If  he  refused  to 
smoke,  as  he  surely  would  if  he  had  not  spoken 
true  things,  every  one  knew  that  he  was  a  brag 
gart  and  a  liar. 

DANIEL  GARRISON  BRINTON.  —  Physician,  anthropologist.  Has 
written  many  books,  mostly  about  American  Indians.  The 
Lenape  and  their  Legends,  in  which  the  Walam  olum  is  given 
in  full,  is  a  volume  in  his  Library  of  Aboriginal  American 
Literature. 


XVII. 

THE   SIX   NATIONS. 

WHEN  white  men  began  to  settle  what  is  now 
the  state  of  New  York,  that  part  of  it  extending 
from  about  the  Hudson  River  west  along  the 


Il6  AMERICAN    INDIANS. 

Mohawk  and  on  beyond  'it  to  the  Niagara,  was 
occupied  by  the  Iroquois  or  Five  Nations.  The 
separate  tribes,  naming  them  from  the  east,  were 
the  Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and 
Senecas.  These  were  flourishing  tribes ;  they 
had  important  villages  and  towns  and  large  corn 
fields;  they  were,  however,  also  hunting  tribes  and 
powerful  in  war.  In  fact,  they  were  the  terror 
of  their  milder  Algonkin  neighbors.  Person 
ally,  Iroquois  Indians  were  finely  built,  strong, 
energetic,  and  active. 

They  spoke  languages  much  alike  and  probably 
derived  .from  one  ancient  language.  This  was 
believed  by  them  to  prove  that  the  five  tribes 
were  related.  Still  they  were  at  one  time  fre 
quently  at  war  with  each  other.  This  was  before 
the  white  men  came.  Finally,  a  man  named 
Hayenwatha  was  a  chief  among  the  Onondagas. 
He  was  wise,  kind,  and  peaceable.  There  was  at 
this  same  time  another  Onondaga  chief  named 
Atotarho,  who  was  in  character  the  opposite  of 
Hayenwatha.  He  was  a  bold  warrior  and  the 
dreaded  foe  of  the  Cayugas  and  Senecas,  against 
whom  he  led  war-parties  ;  he  was  feared  and  dis 
liked  by  his  own  people.  When  these  two  men 
were  chiefs  among  the  Onondagas,  the  Mohawks 
and  the  Oneidas  were  much  harassed  by  their 
Algonkin  neighbors,  the  Mohicans.  Hayenwatha 
thought  much  over  the  sad  condition  of  the 
Iroquois  tribes.  Constantly  warring  with  their 
kindred  in  the  west  and  troubled  by  outside  foes 


THE   SIX   NATIONS.  1 1/ 

in  the  east,  their  future  looked  dark.  He  thought 
of  a  plan  of  union  which  he  believed  would  bring 
peace  and  prosperity. 

Most  Indian  tribes  consisted  of  a  few  great 
groups  of  persons,  the  members  of  which  were 
related  to  each  other  and  lived  together.  Such 
groups  of  related  persons  are  called  gentes ;  the  sin 
gular  of  the  word  is  gens.  There  were  three  gentes 
among  the  Mohawks,  three  among  the  Oneidas, 
and  eight  in  each  of  the  other  three  tribes.  These 
gentes  usually  bore  the  name  of  some  animal ; 
thus  the  Oneida  gentes  were  the  wolf,  bear,  and 
turtle.  The  people  belonging  to  a  gens  were 
called  by  the  gens  name.  Thus  an  Oneida  was 
either  a  wolf,  bear,  or  turtle.  Every  wolf  was 
related  to  every  other  wolf  in  his  tribe  ;  every 
turtle  to  every  other  turtle;  every  bear  to  every 
other  bear. 

Each  tribe  was  ruled  by  a  council  which  con 
tained  members  elected  from  each  gens.  Each 
gens  had  one  or  more  councillors,  according  to 
its  size  and  importance.  Each  member  of  the 
council  watched  with  care  to  see  that  his  gens 
got  all  its  rights  and  was  not  imposed  upon  by 
others.  Every  tribe  was  independent  of  every 
other  tribe. 

Hayenwatha's  idea  was  to  unite  the  tribes  into 
a  strong  confederacy.  Separately  the  tribes  were 
weak,  and  a  foe  could  do  them  much  harm  ;  united 
they  would  be  so  strong  that  no  one  could  trouble 
them.  He  did  not  wish  to  destroy  the  tribes; 


Il8  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

he  wished  each  to  remain  independent  in  manag 
ing  its  own  affairs;,  but  he  desired  that  together 
they  should  be  one  great  power  which  would  help 
all.  Three  times  he  called  a  council  of  his  people, 
the  Onondagas,  to  lay  his  plan  before  them  ;  three 
times  he  failed  because  the  dreaded  Atotarho,  who 
did  not  desire  peace,  opposed  his  scheme. 

When  he  found  he  could  not  move  his  own 
people,  Hayenwatha  went  to  the  Mohawks,  where 
he  found  help ;  they  agreed  that  such  a  union  was 
needed.  Next  the  Oneidas  were  interested.  Two 
great  chiefs,  one  Mohawk  and  one  Oneida,  then 
went  to  the  Onondagas  to  urge  these  to  join  with 
them ;  again  the  plan  failed  because  Atotarho 
opposed  it.  The  two  chiefs  went  further  west 
ward  and  had  a  council  with  the  Cayugas,  who 
were  pleased  with  their  plan.  With  a  Cayuga 
chief  to  help  them,  they  returned  to  the  Onon 
dagas.  Another  council  was  held,  and  finally  the 
Onondagas  were  gained  over  by  promising  the 
chieftaincy  of  the  confederacy  to  Atotarho.  There 
was  then  no  trouble  in  getting  the  consent  of  the 
Senecas.  Two  chiefs  were  appointed  by  them  to 
talk  over  the  plan  with  the  others.  Hayenwatha 
met  the  six  chiefs  at  Onondaga  Lake,  where  the 
whole  plan  was  discussed  and  the  new  union  was 
made. 

It  was  at  first  "  The  Five  Nations."  At  that 
time  the  Tuscaroras  lived  in  the  south.  Later 
on,  perhaps  more  than  two  hundred  years  later, 
they  moved  northward,  and  joined  the  confederacy, 


THE  SIX  NATIONS.  1 19 

making  it  "  The  Six  Nations."  The  Five  Nations 
formed  one  government  under  a  great  council. 
This  council  consisted  of  fifty  members  —  nine 
Mohawks,  nine  Oneidas,  fourteen  Onondagas,  ten 
Cayugas,  eight  Senecas.  The  names  of  the  first 
councillors  were  kept  alive  by  their  successors 
always  assuming  them  when  they  entered  the 
council.  The  government  did  not  interfere  with 
the  rights  of  the  different  tribes.  It  was  always 
ready  to  receive  new  tribes  into  itself.  Its  pur 
pose  was  said  to  be  to  abolish  war  and  bring 
general  peace.  It  did  this  by  destroying  tribes 
that  did  not  wish  to  unite  with  it.  At  times  the 
Iroquois  Confederacy  really  did  receive  other 
tribes,  such,  for  example,  as  the  Tuteloes,  Sapo- 
nies,  Tuscaroras,  and  fragments  of  the  Eries  and 
Hurons.  They  themselves  always  called  the  con 
federacy  by  a  name  meaning  the  "  long  house  " 
or  the  extended  or  drawn-out  house.  The  con 
federacy  was  thus  likened  "  to  a  dwelling,  which 
was  extended  by  additions  made  to  the  end,  in 
the  manner  in  which  their  ba.rk-built  houses  were 
lengthened.  When  the  number  of  families  in 
habiting  these  long  dwellings  was  increased  by 
marriage  or  adoption,  and  a  new  hearth  was 
required,  the  end  wall  was  removed,  an  addition 
of  the  required  size  was  made  to  the  edifice,  and 
the  closing  wall  was  restored." 

The  confederacy  became  a  great  power,  and  is 
often  mentioned  in  history.  When  the  French 
or  English  went  to  war,  it  was  important  for  either 


I2O  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

side  to  get  the  help  of  the  Iroquois.  In  the  council 
meetings  of  the  tribes,  and  in  the  meetings  of  the 
great  council  of  the  confederacy,  there  were  often 
important  discussions.  We  have  spoken  of  the 
warlike  spirit  of  the  Iroquois.  A  man  who  was  a 
great  warrior  had  great  influence.  So,  however, 
had  the  man  who  was  a  great  speaker.  Oratory 
was  much  cultivated,  and  the  man  who,  at  a 
council,  could  move  and  sway  his  fellows,  influ 
encing  them  to  war  or  peace,  was  an  important 
person. 

There  were  a  number  of  the  Iroquois  orators 
whose  names  are  remembered,  but  none  is  more 
famous  than  Red  Jacket.  We  will  give  a  passage 
from  one  of  his  speeches  as  an  example  of  Indian 
oratory.  The  speech,  was  made  in  1805,  at  a 
council  held  at  Buffalo.  A  missionary,  named 
Cram,  had  come  to  preach  to  them,  and  invited  a 
number  of  chiefs  and  important  men  to  attend, 
that  he  might  explain  his  business  to  them.  After 
he  had  spoken,  the  old  Seneca  orator  rose,  and  in 
his  speech  said  the  following  words : 

"  Brother,  listen  to  what  we  say.  There  was  a 
time  when  our  forefathers  owned  this  great  island. 
Their  seats  extended  from  the  rising  to  the  setting 
sun.  The  Great  Spirit  had  made  it  for  the  use 
of  Indians.  He  had  created  the  buffalo,  the  deer, 
and  other  animals,  for  food.  He  made  the  bear 
and  the  beaver,  and  their  skins  served  us  for 
clothing.  He  had  scattered  them  over  the  coun 
try,  and  taught  us  how  to  take  them.  He  had 


THE   SIX  NATIONS.  121 

caused  the  earth  to  produce  corn  for  bread.  All 
this  he  had  done  for  his  red  children  because  he 
loved  them.  If  we  had  any  disputes  about  hunt 
ing  grounds,  they  were  generally  settled  without 
the  shedding  of  much  blood,  but  an  evil  day  came 
upon  us  ;  your  forefathers  crossed  the  great  water, 
and  landed  on  this  island.  Their  numbers  were 
small;  they  found  friends  and  not  enemies;  they 
told  us  they  had  fled  from  their  country  for  fear 
of  wicked  men,  and  came  here  to  enjoy  their 
religion.  They  asked  for  a  small  seat ;  we  took 
pity  on  them,  granted  their  request,  and  they  sat 
down  among  us ;  we  gave  them  corn  and  meal ; 
they  gave  us  poison  [whisky]  in  return.  The 
white  people  had  now  found  our  country;  tidings 
were  carried  back,  and  more  came  amongst  us, 
yet  we  did  not  fear  them ;  we  took  them  to  be 
friends;  they  called  us  brothers;  we  believed 
them,  and  gave  them  a  larger  seat.  At  length 
their  numbers  had  greatly  increased  ;  they  wanted 
more  land;  they  wanted  our  country.  Our  eyes 
were  opened,  and  our  minds  became  uneasy. 
Wars  took  place ;  Indians  were  hired  to  fight 
against  Indians,  and  many  of  our  people  were 
destroyed.  They  also  brought  strong  liquors 
among  us;  it  was  strong  and  powerful,  and  has 
slain  thousands. 

"  Brother,  our  seats  were  once  large,  and  yours 
were  very  small ;  you  have  now  become  a  great 
people,  and  we  have  scarcely  a  place  left  to  spread 
our  blankets ;  you  have  got  our  country,  but  are 


122  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

not    satisfied ;  you  want    to    force    your    religion 
upon  us." 

HORATIO  HALE.  —  Explorer,  linguist,  ethnologist.  One  of 
the  earliest  prominent  American  ethnologists.  Among  his  im 
portant  works  is  The  Iroquois  Book  of  Rites. 


XVIII. 
STORY   OF   MARY  JEMISON. 

YEARS  ago,  when  I  was  a  small  boy,  some  one 
pointed  out  to  me  the  "  old  white  woman's 
spring,"  and  told  me  a  part  of  the  story  of 
Mary  Jemison. 

In  the  year  1742  or  1743  an  Irishman  named 
Thomas  Jemison,  with  his  wife  and  three  chil 
dren,  left  his  own  country  for  America,  on  a 
ship  called  the  William  and  Mary.  On  the 
voyage  a  little  girl  was  born  into  the  family,  to 
whom  they  gave  the  name  of  Mary.  She  had 
a  light,  clear  skin,  blue  eyes,  and  yellow  or 
golden  hair.  After  landing  at  Philadelphia,  the 
family  soon  moved  to  Marsh  Creek  (Pennsyl 
vania),  which  was  then  in  the  far  West  and  quite 
in  the  Indian  country.  There  Thomas  Jemison 
had  a  farm,  built  a  comfortable  house,  and  by 
industry  prospered.  In  the  new  home  two 
younger  children  were  born,  both  boys. 

In  1754  they  moved  to  a  new  farm,  where 
they  lived  in  a  log  house.  Here  they  spent 


STORY   OF   MARY  JEMISON.  123 

the  winter.  Spring  came,  and  every  one  was 
busy  in  the  fields.  It  was  the  time  of  the 
French  and  Indian  wars  against  the  English. 
A  number  of  attacks  had  been  made  upon  set 
tlers.  One  day  Mary  was  sent  to  a  neighbor's 
for  a  horse ;  she  was  to  spend  the  night,  re 
turning  in  the  morning.  At  that  time  some 
strangers  •  were  living  at  Mary's  house  —  a  man, 
his  sister-in-law,  and  her  three  little  children. 
Mary  had  secured  the  horse  for  which  she  had 
been  sent, .and  had  ridden  home  in  the  early 
morning.  As  she  reached  the  house,  the  man 
took  the  horse  and  rode  off  to  get  some  grain, 
taking  with  him  his  gun,  in  case  he  should  see 
some  game.  Every  one  about  the  house  was 
busy.  Mary,  years  afterward,  told  the  story  of 
what  then  took  place : 

"  Father  was  shaving  an  ax-helve  at  the  side 
of  the  house ;  mother  was  making  preparations 
for  breakfast;  my  two  oldest  brothers  were  at 
work  near  the  barn ;  and  the  little  ones,  with 
myself  and  the  woman  and  her  three  children, 
were  in  the  house.  Breakfast  was  not  yet 
ready,  when  we  were  alarmed  by  the  discharge 
of  a  number  of  guns  that  seemed  to  be  near. 
Mother  and  the  woman  before  mentioned  almost 
fainted  at  the  report,  and  every  one  trembled 
with  fear.  On  opening  the  door,  the  man  and 
horse  lay  dead  near  the  house,  having  just  been 
shot  by  the  Indians.  I  was  afterward  informed 
that  the  Indians  discovered  him  at  his  own 


124  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

house  with  his  gun,  and  pursued  him  to  father's, 
where  they  shot  him  as  I  have  related.  They 
first  secured  my  father,  and  then  rushed  into 
the  house  and  without  the  least  resistance  made 
prisoners  of  my  mother,  brothers,  and  sister,  the 
woman,  her  three  children,  and  myself.  .  .  .  My 
two  brothers  Thomas  and  John,  being  at  the 
barn,  escaped." 

The  party  which  had  seized  them  was  com 
posed  of  six  Shawnee  Indians  and  four  French 
men.  The  first  day  was  terrible.  They  were 
kept  rapidly  marching  until  night ;  they  had  no 
food  or  water  during  the  whole  day.  One  In 
dian  went  behind  the  party  with  a  whip,  with 
which  he  lashed  the  little  ones  to  make  them 
keep  up  with  the  party.  At  night  there  was 
no  fire  and  they  had  no  covering.  They  were 
afoot  again  before  daylight,  but  as  the  sun  rose, 
stopped  and  ate  breakfast.  The  second  night 
they  camped  near  a  dark  and  dreary  swamp,  and 
here  they  were  given  supper,  but  were  too  tired 
and  sad  to  care  much  for  food.  After  supper, 
an  Indian  stripped  off  Mary's  shoes  and  stock 
ings  and  began  putting  moccasins  upon  her. 
The  same  thing  was  done  to  the  woman's  little 
boy.  Noticing  this,  Mary's  mother  believed  the 
Indians  intended  to  spare  the  two  children.  She 
said  to  the  girl : 

"  My  dear  little  Mary,  I  fear  the  time  has  ar 
rived  when  we  must  be  parted  forever.  Your 
life,  I  think,  will  be  spared;  but  we  shall  proba- 


STORY   OF   MARY  JEMISON.  125 

bly  be  tomahawked  here  in  this  lonesome  place, 
by  the  Indians.  Alas !  my  dear,  my  heart  bleeds 
at  the  thought  of  what  awaits  you ;  but  if  you 
leave  us,  remember  your  name,  and  the  names 
of  your  father  and  mother.  Be  careful  and  not 
forget  your  English  tongue.  If  you  shall  have 
an  opportunity  to  get  away  from  the  Indians, 
don't  try  to  escape ;  for  if  you  do,  they  will  find 
and  destroy  you.  Don't  forget,  my  little  daugh 
ter,  the  prayers  that  I  have  learned  you ;  say 
them  often ;  be  a  good  child,  and  God  will  bless 
you.  May  God  bless  you,  my  child,  and  make 
you  comfortable  and  happy." 

Just  then  an  Indian  took  Mary  and  the  little 
boy  by  the  hand  and  led  them  away.  As  they 
parted,  the  mother  called  out  to  the  child,  who 
was  crying  bitterly,  "  Don't  cry,  Mary  !  Don't  cry, 
my  child  !  God  will  bless  you  !  Farewell,  fare 
well  ! " 

The  Indian  took  the  children  into  the  woods, 
where  they  lay  down  to  sleep.  The  little  boy 
begged  Mary  to  try  to  escape,  but  she  remem 
bered  her  mother's  warning.  The  next  morning 
the  other  Indians  and  the  Frenchmen  rejoined 
them,  but  their  white  captives  were  not  with  them. 
During  the  night,  in  that  dark  and  dismal  swamp, 
Mary's 'father  and  mother,  Robert,  Matthew,  and 
Betsey,  the  woman,  and  two  of  her  children  had 
been  killed,  scalped,  and  fearfully  mangled.  When 
they  camped  again,  Mary  saw  with  horror  the 
Indians  at  work  upon  the  scalps  of  her  parents. 


126  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

A  fourth  and  fifth  day  the  party  journeyed  on, 
and  then,  driven  by  bad  weather,  camped  for  three 
nights  in  one  place.  Finally  the  party  came  near 
Fort  Dti  Quesne,  where  Pittsburg  now  stands. 
They  had  been  joined  by  other  Indians  who  had 
a  young  white  man  prisoner.  When  they  reached 
this  place,  the  Indians  carefully  combed  the  hair 
of  the  three  prisoners,  and  painted  their  faces  and 
hair  with  red  as  Indians  do. 

The  next  morning  after  they  reached  the  fort, 
the  little  boy  and  young  man  were  given  to  the 
French.  Mary  \vas  given  to  two  young  Seneca 
women.  By  them  she  was  taken  to  their  town 
some  distance  down  the  Ohio  River.  Here  they 
washed  her  and  dressed  her  nicely  in  Indian 
clothing.  They  publicly  adopted  her  in  place  of 
a  brother  who  had  just  been  killed.  These  women 
and  their  brothers  were  kind  to  Mary,  treating 
her  as  their  real  sister,  and  she  came  to  love  them 
dearly.  She  was  with  them  for  three  winters 
and  two  summers  on  the  Ohio  River,  when,  at 
their  wish,  she  married  a  Delaware  Indian  named 
Shenanjie.  He  was  a  good  husband,  but  died 
when  they  had  been  married  but  two  or  three 
years. 

We  will  tell  but  one  more  incident  in  Mary's 
life.  Not  long  after  marrying  Shenanjie*  she 
moved  with  her  sisters  and  their  brothers  to  the 
Genesee  Valley  in  New  York.  The  wars  were 
now  over.  Mary  was  a  young  widow  with  a  little 
son.  The  King  of  England  offered  a  bounty  to 


STORY   OF   MARY   JEMISON.  127 

any  one  who  would  find  white  prisoners  among 
the  Indians  and  bring  them  in  to  the  forts  to  be 
redeemed.  A  Dutchman  named  Van  Sice,  who 
knew  that  Mary  was  a  captive,  determined  to  take 
her  to  the  fort  and  get  his  bounty.  Mary  learned 
of  his  plan,  but  had  no  wish  to  leave  the  Indians. 
She  was  afraid  of  the  man.  One  day,  when  she 
was  working  in  the  field  alone,  she  saw  him  com 
ing  to  seize  her.  He  chased  her,  but  she  escaped 
and  hid  herself  for  three  days  and  nights.  The 
Indian  council  then  decided  that  she  could  not 
be  taken  back  against  her  wish,  and  her  fear  of 
Van  Sice  ceased. 

But  she  had  a  more  dangerous  enemy.  An  old 
chief  of  the  tribe  determined  himself  to  return 
her  and  get  the  bounty.  He  told  one  of  Mary's 
Indian  brothers  of  his  intention  to  take  her  to 
Niagara  to  be  redeemed.  A  quarrel  took  place 
between  the  two  men,  and  her  brother  declared 
that  he  would  kill  her  with  his  own  hand  before 
he  would  allow  the  old  man  to  carry  her  off 
against  her  will.  This  threat  he  made  known  to 
his  own  sister.  She  at  once  told  Mary  to  flee 
with  her  babe  and  hide  in  some  weeds  near  the 
house.  She  also  told  Mary  that  at  night  their 
brother  would  return,  informed  of  the  old  chief's 
plans,  and  that  if  the  sachem  persisted  in  carrying 
her  off,  he  would  surely  kill  her.  The  woman 
told  her,  after  it  was  dark  to  creep  up  to  the 
house,  and  if  she  found  nothing  near  the  door,  to 
come  in,  as  all  would  be  safe.  Should  she,  how- 


128  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

ever,  find  a  cake  there,  she  must  flee.  Poor  Mary 
hid  in  the  weeds  with  her  baby  boy;  at  night, 
when  all  was  still,  she  crept  up  to  the  house ;  the 
little  cake  was  there !  Taking  it,  she  fled  to  the 
spring  now  called,  for  that  reason,  "  the  white 
woman's  spring."  Her  sister  had  suggested  the 
place.  That  night  the  old  chief  came  to  the 
house  to  get  Mary,  and  her  brother  sought  her 
to  kill  her,  but  neither  could  find  her.  The  old 
sachem  gave  up  the  hunt  and  set  out  for  Niagara 
with  his  other  prisoners.  After  he  was  gone,  and 
the  excitement  was  past,  Mary's  sister  told  her 
brother  where  Mary  was  hidden.  He  went  there, 
and  at  finding  her,  greeted  her  kindly  and  brought 
her  home. 

JAMES  E.  SEAVER  has  written  the  story  of  Mary  Jemison  as 
she  told  it  to  him  in  her  old  age.  The  name  of  the  book  is 
The  Life  of  Mary  Jemison  :  the  White  Woman  of  the  Genesee. 


XIX. 

THE   CREEKS. 

THE  Creeks  or  Muskoki  were  one  of  the  strong 
est  tribes  of  the  southern  states.  To  them  were 
related  in  language  a  number  of  important  tribes 
—  the  Apalachi,  Alibamu,  Choctaw,  Chicasaw, 
and  others.  Several  of  these  tribes  were  united 
with  the  Creeks  into  a  so-called  confederacy. 
This  union  was  not  to  be  compared  with  that  of 


THE  CREEKS.  1 29 

the  Iroquois  or  the  Aztecs,  but  was  a  loose  com 
bination  against  foes. 

The  Creeks  and  their  kindred  tribes  present  a 
number  of  points  of  rather  peculiar  interest.  In 
the  olden  time  there  were  two  kinds  of  Creek 
towns  —  white  towns  and  red  towns.  The  red 
towns  were  war  towns,  governed  by  warriors. 
The  white  or  peace  towns  were  governed  by 
civil  chiefs.  It  is  said  by  some  of  the  early 
writers  that  the  white  towns  were  "  cities  of 
refuge  "  to  which  those  who  were  being  pursued 
for  some  crime  or  unfortunate  accident  could  flee. 
The  red  towns  could  be  known  as  such  as  soon  as 
a  stranger  entered  the  public  square,  as  the  posts 
of  the  "  great  house  "  were  painted  red. 

Warriors  were  the  most  honored  of  men  among 
the  Creeks.  Until  a  young  man  was  successful 
in  battle  he  was  treated  hardly  different  from  a 
servant.  The  Creek  boys  had  a  pretty  hard  time. 
They  were  made  to  swim  in  the  coldest  weather; 
they  were  scratched  with  broken  glass  or  fish  teeth, 
from  head  to  foot  till  the  blood  ran ;  these  things 
were  intended  to  toughen  them  to  the  endurance 
of  pain.  When  the  boy  was  fifteen  to  seventeen 
years  old  he  was  put  through  a  test,  after  which 
he  was  no  longer  a  boy,  but  a  man.  At  the  proper 
time  he  gathered  an  intoxicating  plant.  He  ate 
the  bitter  root  of  it  for  a  whole  day,  and  drank  a 
tea  made  of  its  leaves.  When  night  came  he  ate 
a  little  pounded  corn.  He  kept  this  up  for  four 
days.  For  four  months  he  ate  only  pounded  maize, 


130  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

which  could  only  be  cooked  for  him  by  a  little 
girl.  After  that  his  food  might  be  cooked  by  any 
one.  For  twelve  months  from  the  time  of  his  first 
fast  he  ate  no  venison  from  young  bucks,  no  tur 
keys  nor  hens,  no  peas  nor  salt ;  nor  was  he  per 
mitted  to  pick  his  ears  or  scratch  his  head  with 
his  fingers,  but  used  a  splinter  of  wood  for  the 
purpose.  At  the  time  of  new  moon  he  fasted  four 
days,  excepting  that  he  ate  a  little  pounded  maize 
at  night.  When  the  last  month  of  his  twelve 
months'  test  came,  he  kept  four  days'  fast,  then 
burned  some  corncobs  and  rubbed  his  body  with 
the  ashes.  At  the  end  of  that  month,  he  took  a 
heavy  sweat  and  then  plunged  into  cold  water. 

Men  who  wished  to  become  great  warriors 
selected  some  old  conjurer  to  give  them  instruc 
tion.  Four  months  were  spent  with  him  alone. 
The  person  desiring  to  learn  fasted,  ate  bitter 
herbs,  and  suffered  many  hardships.  After  he 
had  learned  all  the  old  conjurer  could  teach  him, 
it  was  believed  that  he  could  disarm  the  enemy 
even  at  a  distance,  and  if  they  were  far  away, 
could  bring  them  near,  so  that  he  might  capture 
them. 

In  the  center  of  every  large  Creek  town  there 
was  a  public  square.  In  this  square  there  were 
three  interesting  things,  —  the  great  house,  the 
council  house,  and  the  playground.  The  great 
house  consisted  of  four  one-story  buildings,  each 
about  thirty  feet  long ;  they  were  arranged  about 
a  square  upon  which  all  faced.  The  side  of  these 


THE  CREEKS.  131 

which  opened  on  the  central  square  was  entirely 
open.  Each  of  the  four  houses  was  divided  into 
three  rooms  or  compartments  by  low  partitions  of 
clay.  At  the  back  of  each  compartment  were 
three  platforms  or  seats,  the  lowest  two  feet  high, 
the  second  several  feet  higher,  the  third  as  much 
higher  than  the  second.  These  were  covered 
with  cane  matting,  as  if  for  carpeting.  New  mats 
were  put  in  each  year,  but  the  old  ones  were  not 
removed.  Each  of  these  four  buildings  was  a 
gathering-place  for  a  different  class  of  persons. 
The  one  facing  east  was  for  the  miko  and  people 
of  high  rank ;  the  northern  building  was  for 
warriors ;  the  southern  was  for  "  the  beloved 
men " ;  and  the  eastern  for  the  young  people. 
In  the  great  house  were  kept  the  weapons,  scalps, 
and  other  trophies.  Upon  the  supporting  posts 
and  timbers  were  painted  horned  warriors,  horned 
alligators,  horned  rattlesnakes,  etc.  The  central 
court  of  the  great  house  was  dedicated  ground, 
and  no  woman  might  set  foot  in  it.  In  the  center 
of  it  burned  a  perpetual  fire  of  four  logs. 

The  council  house  was  at  the  northeast  corner 
of  the  great  house.  It  stood  upon  a  circular 
mound.  It  consisted  of  a  great  conical  roof  sup 
ported  on  an  octagonal  frame  about  twelve  feet 
high.-  It  was  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  in 
diameter.  Its  walls  were  made  of  posts  set  up 
right  and  daubed  with  clay.  A  broad  seat  ran 
around  the  house  inside  and  was  covered  with 
cane  mats.  A  little  hillock  at  the  center  formed 


132  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

a  fireplace.  The  fire  kept  burning  upon  this  was 
fed  with  dry  cane  or  finely  split  pine  wood  which 
was  curiously  arranged  in  a  spiral  line. 

The  council  house  was  used  as  a  gathering  or 
meeting  place,  much  as  the  great  house,  but  it 
was  chiefly  for  bad  weather,  especially  for  winter. 
Here,  too,  private  meetings  of  importance  were 
held  at  all  times.  Here  young  men  prepared  for 
war-parties,  spending  four  days  in  drinking  war- 
drink,  and  counseling  with  the  conjurers.  This 
council  house  was  also  the  place  for  sweat  baths. 
Stones  were  heated  very  hot ;  water  was  thrown 
upon  them  to  give  steam.  Those  desiring  the 
bath  danced  around  this  fire  and  then  plunged 
into  cold  water. 

The  playground  was  in  the  northwest  corner 
of  the  public  square ;  it  was  marked  off  by  low 
embankments.  In  the  center,  on  a  low,  circular 
mound,  stood  a  four-sided  pole,  sometimes  as 
much  as  forty  feet  high.  A  mark  at  the  top 
served  as  a  target  for  practice  with  the  bow  and 
arrow.  The  floor  of  this  yard  was  beaten  hard 
and  level.  The  chief  game  played  here  was 
called  Chunkey.  It  was  played  with  neatly  pol 
ished  stone  disks.  These  were  set  rolling  alonof 

o  o 

on  the  ground,  and  the  players  hurled  darts  or 
shafts  at  them  to  make  the  disk  fall.  (Compare 
with  the  wheel  game  of  the  Blackfeet.)  Ball 
games  and  sometimes  dances  were  also  held  upon 
this  playground. 

The  great  celebration  of  the  Creeks  was  the 


THE  CREEKS.  133 

annual  busk.  They  called  \\.  puskita,  or  fast.  The 
ceremony  was  chiefly  held  at  the  great  house. 
The  time  was  determined  by  the  condition  of  the 
new  corn  and  of  a  plant  named  cassine.  The 
ceremony  lasted  eight  days  and  included  many 
details.  Among  them  we  can  mention  a  few. 
On  the  first  day  a  spark  of  new  fire  was  made 
by  rubbing  two  pieces  of  wood  together.  With 
this  a  four  days'  fire  was  kindled;  four  logs  of 
wood  were  brought  in  and  arranged  so  that  one 
end  of  each  met  one  end  of  the  others  at  the 
middle,  and  the  four  formed  a  cross,  the  arms  of 
which  pointed  to  the  cardinal  points ;  these  were 
fired  with  the  spark  of  new  fire.  Bits  of  new  fire, 
at  some  time  during  the  four  days,  were  set  out 
side  where  the  women  could  take  them  to  kindle 
fresh  fires  on  their  home  hearths. 

At  noon  of  the  second  day,  the  men  took  ashes 
from  the  new  fire  and  rubbed  them  over  their 
chin,  neck,  and  body;  they  then  ran  and  plunged 
themselves  into  cold  water.  On  their  return,  they 
took  the  new  corn  of  the  year  and  rubbed  it 
between  their  hands  and  over  their  bodies.  They 
then  feasted  upon  the  new  corn.  On  the  last, 
eighth  day,  of  the  busk,  a  medicinal  liquid  was 
made  from  fourteen  (or  fifteen)  different  plants, 
each  of  which  had  medicinal  power ;  they  were 
steeped  in  water  in  two  pots  and  were  vigorously 
stirred  and  beaten.  The  conjurers  blew  into  the 
liquid  through  a  reed.  The  men  all  drank  some 
of  this  liquid  and  rubbed  it  over  their  joints. 


134  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

They  did  other  curious  things  during  this  day. 
When  night  came,  all  went  to  the  river.  "  Old 
man's  tobacco  "  was  thrown  into  the  stream  by 
each  person,  and  then  all  the  men  plunged  into 
the  river  and  picked  up  four  stones  from  the 
bottom.  With  these  they  crossed  themselves 
over  the  breast  four  times,  each  time  throwing 
back  one  stone  into  the  river. 

Mr.  Gatschet  thinks  that  much  good  resulted 
from  the  busk.  After  it  all  quarrels  were  for 
gotten  ;  crimes,  except  murder,  were  forgiven ; 
old  utensils  were  broken  and  new  ones  procured. 
Every  one  seemed  to  leave  the  past  behind  and 
begin  anew. 

ALBERT  S.  GATSCHET.  —  A  Swiss,  living  in  America  :  linguist, 
ethnologist.  Connected  with  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology. 
Edited  A  Migration  Legend  of  the  Creeks. 


XX. 

THE   PANI. 

ALL  the  Plains  Indians  were  rovers,  buffalo 
hunters,  and  warriors ;  none  of  them  were  bolder 
or  braver  than  the  Pani.  This  tribal  name  is 
more  frequently  spelled  Pawnee.  The  tribe  be 
longed  to  the  Caddoan  family,  which  includes 
also  the  Caddoes  and  Wichitas  and  perhaps  the 
Lipans  and  Tonkaways.  The  Pani  were  formerly 
numerous  and  occupied  a  large  district  in  Ne- 


THE   PANI.  135 

braska.  To-day  they  are  few,  and  rapidly  dimin 
ishing.  In  1885  they  numbered  one  thousand 
forty-five;  in  1886,  nine  hundred  ninety-eight;  in 
1888,  nine  hundred  eighteen;  in  1889,  eight  hun 
dred  sixty-nine.  To-day  they  live  upon  a  reserva 
tion  in  Oklahoma. 

It  is  believed  that  the  Pani  came  from  the 
south,  perhaps  from  some  part  of  Mexico.  They 
appear  first  to  have  gone  to  some  portion  of  what 
is  now  Louisiana ;  later  they  migrated  northward 
to  the  district  where  the  whites  first  knew  them. 
The  name  Pani  means  wolves,  and  the  sign  lan 
guage  name  for  the  Pani  consists  of  a  representa 
tion  of  the  ears  of  a  wolf.  Several  reasons  have 
been  given  for  their  bearing  this  name.  Perhaps 
it  was  because  they  were  as  tireless  and  enduring 
as  wolves  ;  or  it  may  be  because  they  were  skillful 
scouts,  trailers,  and  hunters.  They  were  in  the 
habit  of  imitating  wolves  in  order  to  get  near 
camp  for  stealing  horses.  They  threw  wolfskins 
over  themselves  and  crept  cautiously  near. 
Wolves  were  too  common  to  attract  much  at 
tention. 

In  the  olden  time  the  Pani  hunted  the  buffalo 
on  foot.  Choosing  a  quiet  day,  so  that  the  wind 
might  not  bear  their  scent  to  the  herd,  the 
hunters  in  a  long  line  began  to  surround  a  little 
group  of  grazing  buffalo.  Some  of  the  men  were 
dressed  in  wolfskins,  and  crept  along  on  all 
fours.  When  a  circle  had  been  formed  around 
the  animals,  the  hunters  began  to  close  in. 


136  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

Presently  one  man  shouted  and  shook  his  blanket 
to  scare  the  buffalo  nearest  him.  The  others  did 
the  same,  and  in  a  short  time  the  excited  herd 
was  running  blindly,  turning  now  here  and  now 
there,  but  always  terrified  by  one  or  another  of 
the  men  in  the  now  ever  smaller  circle.  Finally 
the  animals  were  tired  out  with  their  running  and 
were  shot  and  killed. 

The  way  in  which  the  Pani  used  to  make 
pottery  vessels  was  simple  and  crude.  The  end 
of  a  tree  stump  was  smoothed  for  a  mold.  Clay 
was  mixed  with  burnt  and  pounded  stone,  to 
give  it  a  good  texture,  and  was  then  molded  over 
this.  The  bowl  when  dry  was  lifted  off  and 
baked  in  the  fire.  Sometimes,  instead  of  thus 
shaping  bowls,  they  made  a  framework  of  twigs 
which  was  lined  with  clay,  and  then  burnt  off, 
leaving  the  lining  as  a  baked  vessel. 

As  long  as  they  have  been  known  to  the 
Whites,  the  Pani  have  been  an  agricultural 
people.  They  raised  corn,  beans,  pumpkins,  and 
squashes,  which  they  said  Tirawa  himself,  whom 
they  most  worshiped,  gave  them.  Corn  was 
sacred,  and  they  had  ceremonials  connected  with 
it,  and  called  it  "mother."  In  cultivating  their 
fields  they  used  hoes  made  of  bone :  these  were 
made  by  firmly  fastening  the  shoulder-blade  of  a 
buffalo  to  the  end  of  a  stick. 

Two  practices  in  which  the  Pani  differed  from 
most  Plains  Indians  remind  us  of  some  Mexican 
tribes :  they  kept  a  sort  of  servants  and  sacrificed 


THE   PANI.  137 

human  beings.  Young  men  or  boys  who  were 
growing  up  often  attached  themselves  to  men  of 
importance.  They  lived  in  their  houses  and 
received  support  from  them :  in  return,  they 
drove  in  and  saddled  the  horses,  made  the  fire, 
ran  errands,  and  made  themselves  useful  in  all 
possible  ways. 

The  sacrifice  of  a  human  being  to  Tirawa  — 
and  formerly  to  the  morning  star  —  was  made 
by  one  band  of  the  Pani.  When  captives  of 
war  were  taken,  all  but  one  were  adopted  into 
the  tribe.  That  one  was  set  apart  for  sacrifice. 
He  was  selected  for  his  beauty  and  strength.  He 
was  kept  by  himself,  fed  on  the  best  of  every 
thing,  and  treated  most  kindly. 

Before  the  day  fixed  for  the  sacrifice,  the  peo 
ple  danced  four  nights  and  feasted  four  days. 
Each  woman,  as  she  rose  from  eating,  said  to 
the  captive :  "  I  have  finished  eating,  and  I  hope 
I  may  be  blessed  from  Tirawa ;  that  he  may 
take  pity  on  me ;  that  when  I  put  my  seeds  in 
the  ground  they  may  grow,  and  that  I  may  have 
plenty  of  everything."  You  must  remember  that 
this  sacrifice  was  not  a  merely  cruel  act,  but  was 
done  as  a  gift  to  Tirawa,  that  he  might  give  good 
crops  to  the  people.  On  the  last  night,  bows 
and  arrows  were  prepared  for  every  man  and 
boy  in  the  village,  even  for  the  very  little  boys ; 
every  woman  had  ready  a  lance  or  stick.  By 
daybreak  the  whole  village  was  assembled  at 
the  western  end  of  the  town,  where  two  stout 


138  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

posts  with  four  cross-poles  had  been  set  up. 
To  this  framework  the  captive  was  tied.  A  fire 
was  built  below,  and  then  the  warrior  who  had 
captured  the  victim  shot  him  through  with  an 
arrow.  The  body  was  then  shot  full  of  arrows 
by  all  the  rest.  These  arrows  were  then  re 
moved,  and  the  dead  man's  breast  was  opened 
and  blood  removed.  All  present  touched  the 
body,  after  which  it  was  consumed  by  the  fire, 
while  the  people  prayed  to  Tirawa,  and  put 
their  hands  in  the  smoke  of  the  fire,  and  hoped 
for  success  in  war,  and  health,  and  good  crops. 

Almost  all  these  facts  about  the  Pani  are  from 
Mr.  Council's  book.  I  shall  quote  from  him 
now  the  story  of  Crooked  Hand.  He  was  a 
famous  warrior.  On  one  occasion  the  village 
had  gone  on  a  buffalo  hunt,  and  no  one  was 
left  behind  except  some  sick,  the  old  men,  and 
a  few  boys,  women,  and  children.  Crooked 
Hand  was  among  the  sick.  The  Sioux  planned 
to  attack  the  town  and  destroy  all  who  had  been 
left  behind.  Six  hundred  of  their  warriors  in  all 
their  display  rode  down  openly  to  secure  their 
expected  easy  victory.  The  town  was  in  a  panic. 
But  when  the  news  was  brought  to  Crooked 
Hand  lying  sick  in  his  lodge,  he  forgot  his  ill 
ness  and,  rising,  gave  forth  his  orders. 

They  were  promptly  obeyed.  "  The  village 
must  fight.  Tottering  old  men,  whose  sinews 
were  now  too  feeble  to  bend  the  bow,  seized 
their  long-disused  arms  and  clambered  on  their 


THE   PANI.  139 

horses.  Boys  too  young  to  hunt  grasped  the 
weapons  that  they  had  as  yet  used  only  on 
rabbits  and  ground  squirrels,  flung  themselves 
on  their  ponies,  and  rode  with  the  old  men. 
Even  squaws,  taking  what  weapons  they  could, 
—  axes,  hoes,  mauls,  pestles,  —  mounted  horses 
and  marshaled  themselves  for  battle.  The  force 
for  the  defense  numbered  two  hundred  superan 
nuated  old  men,  boys,  and  women.  Among 
them  all  were  not,  perhaps,  ten  active  warriors, 
and  these  had  just  risen  from  sick-beds  to  take 
their  place  in  the  line  of  battle. 

"  As  the  Pawnees  passed  out  of  the  village 
into  the  plain,  the  Sioux  saw  for  the  first  time 
the  force  they  had  to  meet.  They  laughed  in 
derision,  calling  out  bitter  jibes,  and  telling  what 
they  would  do  when  they  had  made  the  charge ; 
and,  as  Crooked  Hand  heard  their  laughter,  he 
smiled  too,  but  not  mirthfully. 

"  The  battle  began.  It  seemed  like  an  un 
equal  fight.  Surely  one  charge  would  be  enough 
to  overthrow  this  motley  Pawnee  throng,  who 
had  ventured  out  to  try  to  oppose  the  triumphal 
march  of  the  Sioux.  But  it  was  not  ended  so 
quickly.  The  fight  began  about  the  middle  of 
the  morning;  and,  to  the  amazement  of  the 
Sioux,  these  old  men  with  shrunken  shanks  and 
piping  voices,  these  children  with  their  small, 
white  teeth  and  soft,  round  limbs,  these  women 
clad  in  skirts  and  armed  with  hoes,  held  the 
invaders  where  they  were :  they  could  make  no 


140  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

advance.  A  little  later  it  became  evident  that 
the  Pawnees  were  driving  the  Sioux  back.  Pres 
ently  this  backward  movement  became  a  retreat, 
the  retreat  a  rout,  the  rout  a  wild  panic.  Then 
indeed  the  Pawnees  made  a  great  killing  of  their 
enemies.  Crooked  Hand,  with  his  own  hand, 
killed  six  of  the  Sioux,  and  had  three  horses 
shot  under  him.  His  wounds  were  many,  but 
he  laughed  at  them.  He  was  content ;  he  had 
saved  the  village." 

From  1864  until  1876  the  famous  Pani  scouts 
served  our  government  faithfully.  Those  years 
were  terrible  on  the  Plains.  White  settlers  were 
pressing  westward.  The  Indians  were  desperate 
over  the  encroachments  of  the  newcomers. 
Troubles  constantly  occurred  between  the  pio 
neers  and  the  Indians.  During  that  sad  and 
unsettled  time,  Lieutenant  North  and  his  Pani 
scouts  served  as  a  police  to  keep  order  and  to 
punish  violence. 


XXI. 

THE   CHEROKEES. 

THE  old  home  of  the  Cherokees  was  in  the 
beautiful  mountain  region  of  the  South  —  in 
Georgia,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee,  but 
especially  in  Georgia.  They  were  Indians  of 
great  strength  of  character,  and  ready  for  im- 


THE  CHEROKEES.  141 

provement  and  progress.  When  Oglethorpe  set 
tled  Georgia,  the  Cherokees  were  his  friends  and 
allies.  But  after  our  government  was  established, 
the  tribe,  which  had  been  so  friendly  to  the  whites, 
began  to  suffer  from  our  encroachments.  Trea 
ties  were  made  with  them  only  to  be  broken 
Little  by  little,  the  Indians  were  crowded  back: 
sacred  promises  made  by  our  government  were 
not  fulfilled. 

Finally  they  refused  to  cede  any  more  of  their 
land  to  the  greedy  white  settlers,  and  demanded 
that  the  United  States  protect  them  in  their 
rights.  The  quarrel  was  now  one  between  the 
United  States  and  Georgia,  and  the  central  gov 
ernment  found  itself  unable  to  keep  its  pledges. 
So  orders  were  given  that  the  Cherokees  should 
be  removed,  even  against  their  wish,  to  a  new 
home. 

At  this  time  the  Cherokees  were  most  happy 
and  prosperous.  Their  country  was  one  of  the 
most  lovely  portions  of  our  land.  A  writer  says : 
"The  climate  is  delicious  and  healthy ;  the  winters 
are  mild ;  the  spring  clothes  the  ground  with  the 
richest  scenery ;  flowers  of  exquisite  beauty  and  va 
riegated  hues  meet  and  fascinate  the  eye  in  every 
direction.  In  the  plains  and  valleys  the  soil  is 
generally  rich,  producing  Indian  corn,  wheat,  oats, 
indigo,  and  sweet  and  Irish  potatoes.  The  na 
tives  carry  on  considerable  trade  with  the  adjoin 
ing  states ;  some  of  them  export  cotton  in  boats 
down  the  Tennessee  to  the  Mississippi,  and  down 


142  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

that  river  to  New  Orleans.  Apple  and  peach 
orchards  are  quite  common,  and  gardens  are  cul 
tivated,  and  much  attention  paid  to  them.  But 
ter  and  cheese  are  seen  on  Cherokee  tables.  There 
are  many  public  roads  in  the  nation,  and  houses 
of  entertainment  kept  by  natives.  Numerous 
and  flourishing  villages  are  seen  in  every  section 
of  the  country.  Cotton  and  woolen  cloths  are 
manufactured ;  blankets  of  various  dimensions, 
manufactured  by  Cherokee  hands,  are  very  com 
mon.  Almost  every  family  in  the  nation  grows 
cotton  for  its  own  consumption.  Industry  and 
commercial  enterprise  are  extending  themselves 
in  every  part.  Nearly  all  the  merchants  in  the 
nation  are  native  Cherokees.  Agricultural  pur 
suits  engage  the  chief  attention  of  the  people. 
Different  branches  of  mechanics  are  pursued. 
The  population  is  rapidly  increasing." 

This  was  written  in  1825.  Only  about  ten 
years  later,  this  happy,  industrious,  and  prosper 
ous  people  were  removed  by  force  from  their  so 
greatly  loved  home.  Two  years  were  allowed 
in  which  they  must  vacate  lands  that  belonged 
to  them,  and  which  the  United  States  had  pledged 
should  be  always  theirs.  Few  of  them  were  gone 
when  the  two  years  had  ended.  In  May,  1838, 
General  Winfield  Scott  was  sent  with  an  army  to 
remove  them.  He  issued  a  proclamation  which 
began  as  follows  :  — 

"CHEROKEES, —  The  President  of  the  United 
States  has  sent  me  with  a  powerful  army  to  cause 


THE  CHEROKEES.  143 

you,  in  accordance  with  the  treaty  of  1835,  to  join 
that  part  of  your  people  who  are  already  estab 
lished  on  the  other  side  of  the  Mississippi.  Un 
happily,  the  two  years  which  were  allowed  for  the 
purpose  you  have  allowed  to  pass  away  without 
following,  and  without  making  any  preparations 
to  follow ;  and  now,  or  by  the  time  that  this  solemn 
address  reaches  your  distant  settlements,  the  emi 
gration  must  be  commenced  in  haste,  but  I  hope 
without  disorder.  I  have  no  power,  by  granting 
a  further  delay,  to  correct  the  error  you  have 
committed.  The  full  moon  of  May  is  already  on 
the  wane,  and  before  another  shall  have  passed 
away,  every  Cherokee  man,  woman,  and  child  in 
these  states1  must  be  in  motion  to  join  their 
brethren  in  the  West." 

And  so  this  harmless,  helpless  people  left  for 
their  long  journey.  Their  only  offense  was  that 
they  owned  land  which  the  whites  wanted. 
There  are  still  old  Indians  who  remember  the 
"  great  removal."  Most  of  them  were  little  chil 
dren  then,  but  the  sad  leaving  their  beloved 
mountains  and  the  sorrow  and  hardship  of  the 
long  journey  is  remembered  after  sixty  years. 

A  few  years  since,  we  visited  the  Eastern  Cher- 
okees.  Perhaps  two  thousand  of  them  now  live 
in  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina  and  Ten 
nessee.  Some  of  these  are  persons  who  never 
went  to  the  Indian  Territory,  but  hid  themselves 

1  North  Carolina,  Georgia,  Tennessee,  Alabama. 


144  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

in  rocks  and  caves  until  the  soldiers  were  gone; 
some  ran  away  from  the  great  company  as  it 
moved  westward,  trudging  back  a  long  and  toil 
some  journey ;  some  are  the  children  and  grand 
children  of  such  refugees  ;  some  are  persons  who 
drifted  back  in  later  years  to  the  hills  and  forests, 
the  springs  and  brooks,  which  their  fathers  had 
known  and  loved.  They  are  mostly  poor,  —  un 
like  their  relatives  in  the  West,  —  but  they  are 
industrious  and  happy.  Their  log  houses  are 
scattered  over  the  mountain  slopes  or  perched 
upon  the  tops  of  ridges  or  clustered  together  in 
little  villages  in  the  pretty  valleys.  Their  fields 
are  fenced  and  well  cultivated.  They  work  them 
in  companies  of  ten  or  twelve  persons;  such  com 
panies  are  formed  to  work  the  fields  of  each 
member  in  order.  They  dress  like  white  people, 
and  most  of  the  old  Indian  life  is  gone. 

Still  there  are  some  bits  of  it  left.  The  women 
are  basket-makers,  and  make  baskets  of  wide 
splints  of  cane,  plain  or  dyed  black  or  red,  which 
are  interwoven  to  make  striking  patterns.  Some 
old  women  weave  artistically  shaped  baskets  from 
slender  splints  of  oak.  Old  Catolsta,  more  than 
ninety  years  old,  still  shapes  pottery  vessels  and 
marks  them  with  ornamental  patterns  which  are 
cut  upon  a  little  paddle  of  wood,  and  stamped  on 
the  soft  clay  by  beating  it  with  the  paddle.  They 
still  sometimes  use  the  bow  and  arrow,  though 
more  in  sport  than  in  earnest,  as  most  of  them 
have  white  men's  guns.  The  arrow  race  is  still 


THE   CHEROKEES.  145 

sometimes  run.  Several  young  men  start  out 
together,  each  with  his  bow  and  arrows.  The 
arrows  are  shot  out  over  the  course ;  they  run  as 
fast  as  possible  to  where  these  fall  and  picking 
them  up  shoot  them  on  at  once. 
And  so  they  go  on  over  the  whole 
course,  each  trying  to  get  through 
first.  Ball  is  large 
ly  a  thing  of  the 
past,  and  great 
games  are  not  com 
mon.  Still  there 
are  rackets  at  many  houses.  One 
day  we  got  a  "  scratcher "  from 
old  Hoyoneta,  once  a  great  medi 
cine  man  for  ball-players.  This 
scratcher  consisted  of  seven  splin 
ters  of  bone,  sharpened  at 
one  end  and  inserted  into 

a    quill    frame    which    held     INDIAN  BALL-PT.AYF.R.   (AFTER 

them  firmly,  separated  from  CATUN.) 

one    another    by    about    a 

quarter  of  an  inch  or  less.     When  a  young  man 

was  about  to  play  his  first  great  game  of  ball,  he 

went  to  Hoyoneta,  or  some  other  medicine  man, 

to  be  scratched. 

He  had  already  fasted  and  otherwise  prepared 
himself  for  the  ordeal.  The  old  man,  after  mut 
tering  charms  and  incantations,  drew  the  scratcher 
four  times  the  length  of  the  young  man's  body, 
burying  the  points  each  time  deeply  in  the  flesh. 


146  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

Each  time  the  instrument  made  seven  scratches. 
One  set  of  these  ran  from  the  base  of  the  left 
thumb,  up  the  arm,  diagonally  across  the  chest, 
down  the  right  leg  to  the  right  great  toe:  another, 
from  the  base  of  the  right  thumb  to  the  left 
great  toe  ;  another,  from  the  base  of  the  left  little 
ringer,  up  the  back  of  the  arm,  across  the  back, 
down  the  right  leg  to  the  base  of  the  little  toe; 
the  other,  from  the  base  of  the  right  little  finger, 
to  the  left  little  toe.  The  young  man  then 
plunged,  with  all  these  bleeding  gashes,  into  a 
cold  running  brook.  He  was  then  ready  for  the 
morrow's  ball  play,  for,  had  he  not  been  scratched 
twenty-eight  times  with  the  bones  of  swift  run 
ning  creatures,  and  been  prayed  over  by  a  great 
medicine  man  ? 

Every  one  should  know  of  Sequoyah  or  George 
Guess  or  Guest,  as  he  was  called  in  English.  He 
was  a  Cherokee  who  loved  to  work  at  machinery 
and  invent  handy  devices.  He  determined  to 
invent  a  system  of  writing  his  language.  He  saw 
that  the  writing  of  the  white  men  consisted  in  the 
use  of  characters  to  represent  sounds.  At  first 
he  thought  of  using  one  character  for  each  word ; 
this  was  not  convenient  because  there  are  so 
many  words.  He  finally  concluded  that  there 
were  eighty-six  syllables  in  Cherokee,  and  he 
formed  a  series  of  eighty-six  characters  to  repre 
sent  them.  Some  of  these  characters  were  bor 
rowed  from  the  white  man's  alphabet;  the  rest 
were  specially  invented.  It  took  some  little  time 


GEORGE  CATLIN  AND   HIS  WORK.  147 

for  the  Cherokees  to  accept  Sequoyah's  great 
invention,  but  by  1827  it  was  in  use  throughout 
the  nation.  Types  were  made,  and  soon  books 
and  papers  were  printed  in  the  Cherokee  lan 
guage  in  Sequoyah's  characters.  These  are  still 


MTge    OJ 


EXAMPLES  OF  SEQUOYAH'S  CHARACTERS. 

in  use,  and  to-day  in  the  Indian  Territory,  a 
newspaper  is  regularly  printed  by  the  Cherokee 
Nation,  part  of  which  is  in  English,  part  in  the 
Cherokee  character.  This  newspaper  is,  by  the 
way,  supplied  free  to  each  family  by  the  Cherokee 
government. 

HELEN  HUNT  JACKSON.  —  Writer.  Her  nom  de  plume  was 
"  H.  H."  Wrote  two  books  about  Indians,  A  Century  of 
Dishonor  and  Ramona.  Every  American  boy  should  read  the 
former. 


XXII. 

GEORGE   CATLIN   AND   HIS   WORK. 

A  FAMOUS  man  in  America  fifty  years  ago  was 
George  Catlin.  He  was  born  at  Wyoming,  Penn 
sylvania,  in  1796,  and  lived  to  a  good  old  age, 


148  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

dying  in  1872.  His  father  wished  him  to  be  a 
lawyer,  and  he  studied  for  that  profession  and 
began  its  practice  in  Philadelphia.  He  was,  how 
ever,  fond  of  excitement  and  adventure,  and  found 
it  hard  to  stick  to  his  business.  He  was  fond  of 
painting,  though  he  considered  it  only  an  amuse 
ment.  While  he  was  living  in  Philadelphia  a 
party  of  Indians  from  the  "  Far  West"  spent  some 
days  in  that  city  on  their  way  to  Washington. 
Catlin  saw  them,  and  was  delighted  with  their 
fine  forms  and  noble  bearing.  He  determined  to 
give  up  law  practice  and  to  devote  his  life  to 
painting  Indians,  resolving  to  form  a  collection  of 
portraits  which  should  show,  after  they  were  gone, 
how  they  looked  and  how  they  lived. 

He  made  his  first  journey  to  the  Indian  coun 
try  for  this  purpose  in  1832.  For  the  next 
eight  years  he  devoted  himself  to  the  work.  He 
traveled  many  thousands  of  miles  by  canoe  and 
horse,  among  tribes  some  of  which  were  still  quite 
wild.  His  life  was  full  of  excitement,  difficulty, 
and  danger.  He  made  paintings  everywhere : 
paintings  of  the  scenery,  of  herds  of  buffalo,  of 
hunting  life,  Indian  games,  celebrations  of  cere 
monies,  portraits  —  everything  that  would  illus 
trate  the  life  and  the  country  of  the  Indian. 

Among  the  tribes  he  visited  were  the  Mandans, 
who  lived  along  the  Missouri  River.  Some  of 
his  best  pictures  were  painted  among  them.  He 
there  witnessed  the  whole  of  their  sun-dance 
ceremony,  and  painted  four  remarkable  pictures 


PORTRAIT  OF  GEORGE  CATLIN. 


150  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

of  it.  These  represent  the  young  men  fasting  in 
the  dance  lodge,  the  buffalo  dance  outside,  the 
torture  in  the  lodge,  the  almost  equally  horrible 
treatment  of  the  dancers  outside  after  the  torture. 
Although  a  terrible  picture,  we  have  copied  the 
pointing  showing  the  torture  in  the  lodge  (see 
next  chapter)  as  an  example  of  his  work.  Other 
pictures  by  him  are  the  ball-player  (see  XXI.) 
and  the  chief  in  war  dress  (see  I.). 

Sometimes  the  Indians  did  not  wish  to  be 
painted.  They  thought  it  would  bring  bad  luck 
or  shorten  life.  At  one  Sioux  village  the  head 
chief  was  painted  before  any  one  knew  it.  When 
the  picture  was  done,  some  of  the  headmen  were 
invited  to  look  at  it.  Then  all  the  village  wanted 
to  see  it,  and  it  was  hung  outside  the  tent.  This 
caused  much  excitement.  Catlin  says  the  medi 
cine  men  "took  a  decided  and  noisy  stand  against 
the  operations  of  my  brush  ;  haranguing  the  popu 
lace  and  predicting  bad  luck  and  premature  death 
to  all  who  submitted  to  so  strange  and  unaccount 
able  an  operation !  My  business  for  some  days 
was  entirely  at  a  stand  for  want  of  sitters  ;  for  the 
doctors  were  opposing  me  with  all  their  force ; 
and  the  women  and  children  were  crying  with 
their  hands  over  their  mouths,  making  most  piti 
ful  and  doleful  laments." 

At  another  town  up  the  Missouri  River,  near 
the  Yellowstone,  there  was  a  still  greater  excite 
ment  over  one  of  Catlin's  pictures.  About  six 
hundred  Sioux  families  were  gathered  at  a  trad- 


GEORGE   CATLIN   AND    HIS    WORK.  151 

ing  post  from  the  several  different  sub-tribes 
of  that  great  people.  There  had  been  some 
trouble  over  his  painting,  and  the  medicine  men 
threatened  that  those  who  were  painted  would 
die  or  have  great  misfortune.  An  Uncpapa  Sioux 
chief  named  Little  Bear  offered  to  be  painted, 
He  was  a  noble,  fine-looking  fellow,  with  a  strong 
face  which  Catlin  painted  in  profile.  The  picture 
was  almost  finished  when  a  chief  of  a  different 
band,  a  surly,  bad-tempered  man  whom  no  one 
liked,  came  in.  His  name  was  Shonko,  "  The 
Dog."  After  looking  at  the  picture  some  time, 
he  at  last  said  in  an  insolent  way,  "  Little  Bear  is 
but  half  a  man."  The  two  men  had  some  words, 
when  finally  The  Dog  said,  "  Ask  the  painter,  he 
can  tell  you ;  he  knows  you  are  but  half  a  man  - 
he  has  painted  but  one  half  your  face,  and  knows 
the  other  half  is  good  for  nothing."  Again  they 
bandied  words  back  and  forth,  Little  Bear  plainly 
coming  out  ahead  in  the  quarrel.  The  Dog 
hurried  from  the  room  in  a  great  rage.  Little 
Bear  knew  he  was  in  danger;  he  hurried  home, 
and  loaded  his  gun  to  be  prepared.  He  then 
threw  himself  on  his  face,  praying  to  Wakanda 
for  help  and  protection.  His  wife,  fearing  that 
he  was  bent  on  mischief,  secretly  removed  the 
ball  from  his  gun.  At  that  moment  the  insolent 
voice  of  The  Dog  was  heard.  "  If  Little  Bear  is 
a  whole  man,  let  him  come  out  and  prove  it ;  it  is 
The  Dog  that  speaks."  Little  Bear  seized  his 
gun  and  started  to  the  door.  His  wife  screamed 


152  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

as  she  realized  what  she  had  done.  It  was  too 
late ;  the  two  men  had  fired,  and  Little  Bear  fell 
mortally  wounded  in  that  side  of  his  face  which 
had  not  been  painted  in  the  portrait.  The  Dog 
fled. 

The  death  of  Little  Bear  called  for  vengeance. 
Such  an  excitement  arose  that  Catlin  soon  left, 
going  further  up  the  river.  The  warriors  of  the 
two  bands  organized  war-parties,  the  one  to  pro 
tect,  the  other  to  destroy,  The  Dog.  The  Dog's 
brother  was  killed.  He  was  an  excellent  man, 
and  his  death  was  greatly  mourned.  The  Dog 
kept  out  of  reach.  Councils  were  held.  When 
the  matter  was  discussed,  some  things  were  said 
which  show  the  Indian  ideas  regarding  portraits. 
One  man  said : 

"He  [Catlin]  was  the  death  of  Little  Bear! 
He  made  only  one  side  of  his  face ;  he  would  not 
make  the  other ;  the  side  he  made  was  alive,  the 
other  was  dead,  and  Shonko  shot  it  off."  An 
other  said :  "  Father,  this  medicine  man  [Catlin] 
has  done  us  much  harm.  You  told  our  chiefs 
and  warriors  they  must  be  painted  —  you  said 
he  was  a  good  man  and  we  believed  you  !  you 
thought  so,  my  father,  but  you  see  what  he  has 
done !  he  looks  at  our  chiefs  and  our  women  and 
then  makes  them  alive !  In  this  way  he  has 
taken  our  chief  away,  and  he  can  trouble  their 
spirits  when  they  are  dead !  they  will  be  un 
happy."  On  his  return  voyage  Catlin  had  to  be 
cautious,  and  avoided  the  Uncpapa  encampment. 


GEORGE  CATLIN  AND   HIS   WORK.  153 

Some  months  later  The  Dog  was  overtaken  and 
killed. 

Catlin's  pictures  varied  much  in  quality.  Some 
were  fine ;  others  were  poor.  Often  he  made  the 
outlines  and  striking  features  wonderfully  well. 

Catlin  was  among  the  Mandans  in  1832. 
Thirty-three  years  later  Washington  Matthews 
was  in  the  Upper  Missouri  country.  He  had 
with  him  a  copy  of  Catlin's  book  with  line  pic 
tures  of  more  than  three  hundred  of  his  paintings. 
The  Indians  had  completely  forgotten  Catlin  and 
his  visit,  but  were  much  interested  in  his  pictures. 

The  news  soon  spread  that  the  white  man  had 
a  book  containing  the  "  faces  of  their  fathers." 
Many  went  up  to  Fort  Stevenson  to  see  them. 
They  recognized  many  of  the  portraits  and  ex 
pressed  great  emotion.  That  is,  the  women  did, 
weeping  readily  on  seeing  them.  The  men 
seemed  little  moved.  One  day  there  came  from 
the  Mandan  town,  sixteen  miles  away,  the  chief, 
Rushing  Eagle,  son  of  Four  Bears,  who  had  been 
a  favorite  of  Catlin's.  Catlin  painted  him  several 
times  (see  opposite  page  i).  When  the  son  saw 
his  father's  picture,  though  he  gazed  at  it  long 
and  steadily,  he  showed  no  emotion.  Dr.  Mat 
thews  was  called  away  on  some  errand,  and  told 
the  chief  that  he  would  be  away  some  time  and 
left  him  alone  with  the  book.  He  was  obliged, 
however,  to  return  for  something,  and  was  sur 
prised  to  find  Rushing  Eagle  weeping  and  ear 
nestly  addressing  his  father's  portrait. 


154  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

Catlin  not  only  painted  hundreds  of  pictures 
among  many  tribes;  he  also  secured  many  fine 
Indian  objects  —  dress,  weapons,  scalps,  objects 
used  in  games,  painted  blankets,  etc.  With  his 
pictures  and  curiosities,  which  had  cost  him 
so  much  time,  labor,  and  danger,  he  traveled 
through  the  United  States. 

He  exhibited  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadel 
phia,  Washington,  and  many  less  important  cities, 
and  everywhere  attracted  crowds.  He  went  to 
Europe  and  exhibited  in  France,  Belgium,  and 
England.  Every  one  spoke  of  him.  He  was  the 
guest  of  kings  and  prominent  men  everywhere. 
Louis  Philippe,  King  of  France,  was  so  much 
interested  in  his  work  that  he  proposed  to  buy 
the  pictures  and  curiosities  for  the  French  nation. 
But  just  then  came  the  Revolution  which  de 
throned  him,  and  the  sale  fell  through.  Many  of 
Catlin's  pictures  and  some  of  his  curiosities  are 
still  in  existence,  and  the  greater  part  of  these 
are  in  the  United  States  National  Museum  at 
Washington. 

WASHINGTON  MATTHEWS.  —  Physician,  ethnologist.  Author 
of  important  works  regarding  the  Hidatsa  and  Navajo  Indians 
Wrote  The  Catlin  Collection  of  Indian  Paintings. 


THE   SUN   DANCE.  1 55 

XXIII. 

THE    SUN    DANCE, 

THE  Sioux  or  Dakota  Indians  are  one  of  the 
largest  tribes  left.  They  live  at  present  chiefly 
in  the  states  of  North  and  South  Dakota.  There 
are  a  number  of  divisions  or  sub-tribes  of  them 
—  the  Santee,  Sisseton,  Wahpeton,  Yankton, 
Yanktonnais,  and  Teton  Sioux.  The  Tetons  in 
turn  are  divided  into  several  bands  each  with  its 
own  name.  These  are  all  Sioux  proper,  but  there 
are  many  other  tribes  that  speak  languages  that 
are  related  to  the  Sioux.  Among  these  Siouan 
-but  not  Sioux  —  tribes  are  the  Winnebagoes, 
Mandans,  Ponkas,  Assinaboines,  Omahas,  and 
Otoes. 

The  Sioux  are  tall,  finely  built  Indians,  with 
large  features  and  heavy,  massive  faces.  They 
are  a  good  type  of  the  Plains  Indians  who  until 
lately  lived  by  hunting  buffalo.  There  are  now 
nearly  thirty  thousand  true  Sioux  and  about  ten 
thousand  Siouans  of  related  tribes. 

Among  all  peoples  of  the  Siouan  family  it  is 
probable  that  the  terrible  sun  dance  was  practiced. 
It  differed  somewhat  from  tribe  to  tribe.  It  was 
seen  and  described  by  a  number  of  whites,  but 
to-day  it  has  been  forbidden  by  the  United  States 
government,  and  it  is  some  years  since  it  last  took 
place. 


156  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

The  sun  dance  was  made  to  please  Wakan* 
tanka,  the  sun.  If  there  were  a  famine  or  disease, 
or  if  one  wished  success  in  war,  or  to  have  a  good 
crop,  a  young  man  would  say,  "  I  will  pray  to 
Wakantanka  early  in  the  summer."  The  man  at 
once  began  to  prepare  for  the  event.  He  took 
sweat  baths,  drank  herb  teas,  and  gave  feasts  to 
his  friends,  where  herb  teas  were  used.  He  had 
to  be  careful  of  what  things  he  touched ;  used  a 
new  knife,  which  no  one  else  might  use ;  must 
not  touch  any  unclean  thing.  He  could  not  go 
in  swimming.  He  and.  his  friends  gathered  to 
gether  all  the  property  they  could,  that  he  might 
give  many  gifts  at  the  time  of  the  dance. 

At  his  house  every  one  had  to  treat  him  kindly 
and  not  vex  him.  An  umane  was  made  near  the 
back  of  the  tent.  This  was  a  space  dug  down  to 
the  lower  soil.  Red  paint  was  strewn  over  it,  and 
no  one  might  set  foot  upon  it.  Any  of  those  who 
were  to  take  part  in  the  dance,  after  he  had 
smoked  would  carefully  empty  the  ashes  from  his 
pipe  upon  this  spot.  The  spot  represented  life 
as  belonging  to  the  earth. 

Invitations  to  neighboring  tribes  were  sent 
early,  and  long  before  the  dance  parties  began 
to  arrive.  Some  of  these  would  spend  several 
weeks  about  the  village.  At  first  they  pitched 
their  camps  wherever  it  best  suited  them.  A 
little  before  the  dance  orders  were  given,  and  all 
the  visitors  camped  in  one  large  camp  circle,  each 
tribe  occupying  a  special  place.  The  space  within 


THE  SUN  DANCE.  157 

this  circle  was  carefully  leveled  and  prepared.  A 
special  building  was  erected  in  the  center  of  this 
circle  in  which  the  young  men  made  their  prepa 
rations.  In  it  were  buffalo  skulls,  —  one  for  each 
dancer,  —  a  new  knife  and  ax,  and  couches  of 
sage  for  the  dancers  to  lie  upon. 

A  sacred  tree  was  next  secured  and  set  up. 
This  was  an  important  matter.  Men  of  conse 
quence  were  first  sent  out  to  select  it.  When 
they  had  found  one  they  announced  it  in  the  vil 
lage,  and  a  great  crowd  rode  out  on  horseback  to 
the  spot.  Many  strange  things  were  done  in  get 
ting  it,  but  at  last  it  was  cut  down.  A  bundle 
of  wood,  a  blanket,  a  buffalo  robe,  and  two  pieces 
of  buffalo  skin  —  one  cut  to  the  shape  of  a  man, 
the  other  to  that  of  a  buffalo — were  fastened  in 
the  tree.  It  was  then  carried  in  triumph  back 
to  the  camp  and  set  up. 

A  dance  house  was  built  around  this  tree.  It 
was  like  a  great  ring  in  shape,  and  the  space 
between  it  and  the  tree  was  not  roofed.  The 
dance  house  was  built  of  poles  and  leaves.  In  it 
all  the  more  important  parts  of  the  ceremony  were 
performed.  After  the  tree  was  set  up  and  the 
dance  house  built,  all  the  town  was  in  excitement ; 
men,  dressed  in  all  their  finery,  went  dashing  on 
horseback  around  the  camp  circle,  shooting  their 
pistols  and  making  a  great  noise.  The  old  men 
shot  at  the  objects  hung  in  the  sacred  tree.  At 
evening  the  young  men  and  women  rode  around, 
singing. 


158  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

During  all  this  time  the  young  men  had  been 
preparing  for  the  dance.  They  were  especially 
dressed,  they  had  sung,  drummed,  and  smoked. 
When  the  evening  came  that  has  been  described, 
the  dance  really  began.  The  young  men  danced 
from  the  lodge,  where  they  had  been  making 
preparation,  to  the  dance  lodge. 

The  leader  carried  a  buffalo  skull  painted  red. 
All  cried  as  they  went.  On  entering  the  dancing 
house  they  saluted  the  four  cardinal  points  and 
seated  themselves  at  the  back  of  the  lodge,  sing 
ing.  A  spot,  shaped  like  a  crescent,  was  then 
cut  in  the  ground,  and  the  dancers  placed  in  it 
the  buffalo  skulls  they  carried.  Shortly  after 
ward  began  the  tortures,  which  have  made  this 
dance  so  famous.  They  were  intended  to  test 
the  -bravery  of  the  young  men  and  to  please  the 
sun.  Sometimes  a  man  stood  between  four  posts 
arranged  in  the  form  of  a  square.  His  flesh  was 
cut  in  two  places  in  the  back,  and  thongs  were 
passed  through  and  tied  to  the  post  in  front. 
Another  had  a  buffalo  skull  hung  to  the  thong 
passed  through  his  back,  and  danced  until  the 
weight  of  the  skull  tore  out  the  thong.  From  a 
pole  hung  eight  thongs  ;  one  man  took  two  of 
these  and  passed  them  through  his  cuts  and  fas 
tened  them ;  he  then  hung  back  and  looked  up 
ward  at  the  sun.  Other  men,  who  did  not  take 
part  in  the  dance  itself,  sat  near  the  sun  pole,  and 
with  new  knives  cut  bits  of  flesh  from  their  shoul 
ders  and  held  them  up  to  the  sun  pole.  Some- 


THE   SUN   DANCE. 


159 


times  a  man  took  his  horse  with  him  into  the 
dancing  lodge.  His  chest  was  pierced  in  two 
places  and  thongs  from  the  pole  were  inserted; 
he  was  then  tied  to  his  horse,  and  the  animal 
was  whipped  up.  The  thongs  were  thus  sud 
denly  jerked  and  the  flesh  torn. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  dreadful   things 


TORTURES  OF  THE  MANDAN  SUN   DANCE.       (AFTER   CATLIN.) 

that  have  been  told  of  sun-dance  tortures.  They 
are  taken  from  a  description  given  by  an  Indian 
named  George  Bushotter.  He  not  only  described 
the  dance,  but  drew  a  curious  lot  of  rude  pictures 
showing  it. 

Years  before,  George  Catlin  saw  the  sun  dance 
of  the  Mandans,  and  left  four  terrible  pictures  of 


160  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

it.  The  celebration  at  that  time  among  the 
Mandans  exceeded  in  the  horror  of  its  tortures 
that  which  we  have  described. 

While  these  tortures  were  going  on  in  the 
dancing  lodge,  all  sorts  of  things  were  being  done 
outside.  The  old  women  danced.  Songs  were 
sung  in  honor  of  the  young  men.  Children  were 
gathered  together  and  their  ears  were  pierced. 
Presents  were  given  away.  A  double  fence  of 
poles  connected  the  house  of  preparation  and  the 
dance  house,  and  upon  it  objects  of  all  kinds  were 
hung.  These  were  free  gifts  to  any  one  who  chose 
to  take  them. 

From  the  time  the  sacred  tree  was  set  up  until 
the  dance  was  over,  the  young  men  taking  part 
fasted  and  took  no  drink.  While  they  suffered, 
and  as  they  gazed  at  the  sun  or  lifted  up  their 
hands  toward  it,  they  continually  prayed,  saying, 
"  Please  pity  me;  bring  to  pass  the  things  I  desire." 
When  all  was  over,  the  young  men  were  taken 
home,  and  each  was  given  four  sips  of  water  and  a 
bit  of  food.  A  little  later  they  might  eat  all  they 
liked.  Then  they  went  into  the  sweat  lodge. 
They  were  now  through,  and  ever  after  might 
boast  of  having  danced  to  Wakantanka. 

J.  OWEN  DORSEY.  —  Missionary,  ethnologist.  Was  connected 
with  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  Wrote  many  papers,  one  of 
which  is  Siouan  Cults. 


THE   PUEBLOS.  l6l 

XXIV. 
THE   PUEBLOS. 

THE  most  interesting  Indians  of  the  Southwest 
are  the  Pueblos,  so  called  from  theirhabit  of  liv 
ing  in  towns.  The  word  Pueblo  is  Spanish,  and 
means  a  village  or  town.  More  than  three  hun 
dred  years  ago  the  Spaniards,  exploring  northward 
from  Mexico,  found  these  clusters  of  industrious 
Indians  living  in  their  quaint  towns.  They  con 
quered  them  and  brought  them  missionaries. 
They  taught  them  their  beautiful  language,  and 
even  to-day  Spanish  is  spoken  in  all  the  pueblos 
in  addition  to  the  native  Indian  tongue.  When 
the  Spaniards  entered  New  Mexico  there  were 
more  than  one  hundred  pueblos ;  to-day  there  are 
about  twenty.  Most  of  these  are  in  New  Mexico, 
but  seven,  the  Moki  towns,  are  in  Arizona. 

The  home  of  the  Pueblos  is  a  wonderful  land. 
It  is  a  country  of  desert,  of  flat-topped  mesas,  of 
sharp-pinnacled  crests,  of  broad  valleys,  and  deep 
and  narrow  canons.  It  is  a  land  where  the  sky 
is  almost  always  blue,  and  where  the  air  is  clear. 
There  are  but  few  streams,  and  every  spring  is 
precious.  The  people  always  built  near  water, 
and  selected  some  spot  in  a  valley  where  there 
was  room  for  the  corn-fields. 

The  largest  of  the  present  pueblos  is  Zufii,  in 
New  Mexico.  Some  years  ago  a  white  man, 


162 


AMERICAN  INDIANS. 


Frank  Gushing,  went  to  Zuni  and  lived  for  a  long 
time  there  to  learn  about  the  life  and  customs  of 
the  Pueblo  Indians.  They  were  kind  to  him,  at 
first  taking  him  into  their  own  houses,  and  later 
allowing  him  a  little  house  by  himself.  Since  Mr. 
Gushing  went  to  live  at  Zuni,  a  number  of  other 
persons  have  lived  at  other  pueblos,  so  that  we 
know  a  good  deal  about  them  now. 


VIEW  OF  PUEBLO:  TAOS,  N.  M.    (FROM  PHOTOGRAPH.) 

In  former  times  a  pueblo  consisted  of  one 
great  house,  or,  at  most,  of  a  few  great  houses, 
each  the  home  of  a  large  number  of  people. 
Taos,  in  northern  New  Mexico,  is,  perhaps,  as  old- 
fashioned  as  any  of  the  pueblos  now  occupied. 
Even  to-day  it  consists  almost  entirely  of  two 
large  houses,  one  on  each  side  of  the  little  Taos 
River.  The  houses  are  so  built  that  the  flat  roofs 


THE  PUEBLOS.  163 

of  the  different  stories  form  a  set  of  steps  as  one 
looks  at  them  from  in  front.  In  a  three-story 
building  the  lower  floor  would  have  three  sets  of 
rooms,  one  in  front  of  another.  The  roof  of  the 
front  line  of  rooms  would  form  a  flat  platform  in 
front  of  the  front  rooms  of  the  second  story, 
which  consisted  only  of  two  lines  of  rooms.  The 
roof  of  the  front  line  of  these,  in  turn,  was  a 
platform  in  front  of  the  single  line  of  third-story 
rooms.  Formerly  there  were  no  doors  in  the 
lower  rooms,  but  ladders  were  placed  against  the 
wall,  and  persons  climbed  up  on  the  roof;  then 
through  a  hole  in  the  roof,  by  means  of  another 
ladder  they  climbed  down  into  the  room.  By 
ladders  from  the  roof  of  the  first  floor  they  climbed 
to  the  top  of  the  second  story ;  there  were  doors 
in  the  rooms  of  the  second  and  third  stories. 
Nowadays  there  are  usually  doors  into  the  lower 
rooms,  but  they  still  use  ladders  for  getting  into 
the  upper  stories. 

The  people  are  fond  of  sitting  on  the  house 
tops  as  they  work.  There  they  spin,  shell  corn, 
cut  and  dry  squashes,  shape  pottery  vessels,  etc. 
There  they  gather  in  crowds  when  there  are 
dances  in  the  pueblo,  and  when  there  are  foot 
races  or  pony  races. 

The  walls  of  these  houses  are  built  of  stone 
covered  over  with  adobe  mud,  or  of  sundried  adobe 
bricks.  They  did  not  formerly  have  what  we 
would  call  windows,  but  there  were  small  open 
ings  in  the  walls  for  air,  or  for  peepholes.  In 


1 64 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


the  pueblos  of  to-day  we  find  true  sashes  with 
glass  in  a  few  of  the  houses.  There  are  also  some 
rather  old  rooms  that  have  windows  made  of 
"  isinglass "  or  gypsum,  a  mineral  found  in  the 
mountains,  which  can  be  split  into  thin  sheets, 
which  are  transparent.  The  chimneys  in  these 
houses  are  made  of  broken  water-jars  laid  up,  one 
on  another,  and  the  joints  plastered  with  mud. 


PUEBLO  POTTERY.   (FROM  ORIGINALS  IN  PEABODY  MUSEUM.) 

The  Pueblo  Indians  are  industrious.  The  men 
have  to  attend  to  their  fields,  their  orchards  of 
peaches  and  apricots,  and  their  flocks  and  herds. 
The  women  tend  the  gardens,  make  pottery  and 
baskets,  and  prepare  the  food.  Men  are  also 
weavers  of  blankets  and  belts.  The  produce  of 
the  fields  is  chiefly  corn,  but  some  wheat  is  also 
raised.  Considerable  crops  are  made  of  water 
melons,  muskmelons,  squashes,  and  gourds.  The 


THE   PUEBLOS. 


I6S 


most  important  domestic  animals  are  ponies,  the 
little  donkeys  called  burros,  and  goats.  Near 
the  pueblos  are  always  several  enclosures  built  of 
poles  set  in  the  ground,  called  corrals.  These 
are  for  the  animals,  and  one  kind  only  is  usually 
kept  in  one  corral.  The  Indian  boys  have  great 
fun  at  evening  when  the  burros  are  brought 
home  from  pasture  and  put  into  the  corral. 
They  go  in  among  them  and  play  until  dark 


ESTUFA  AT  COCHITI,    N.   M.      (FROM    PHOTOGRAPH.) 

with  the  patient  little  beasts.  They  climb  up 
on  to  them  and  ride,  push,  pull,  and  tease  them. 
Early  the  next  morning  the  whole  herd  is  taken 
out  to  pasture  by  two  or  three  boys,  whose  work 
it  is  to  stay  with  them  all  day. 

A  visitor  to  a  pueblo  would  be  sure  to  notice 
the  estufas.  These  differ  with  the  pueblo,  but 
the  characteristic  Rio  Grande  pueblo  type  is  a 
large,  round,  single-roomed,  flat-topped  building. 


1 66  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

They  are  smoothly  coated  outside  with  adobe 
clay.  A  flight  of  steps  leads  to  the  roof,  and  a 
long  ladder  projecting  through  a  hole  in  the 
roof  leads  down  to  the  inside.  The  floor  of  the 
estufa  is  considerably  lower  than  the  ground 
outside.  Years  ago,  before  the  Spanish  priests 
taught  the  Indians  our  ideas  of  family  life,  all 
the  men  and  large  boys  slept  in  the  estufa  at 
night,  while  the  women  and  little  children  slept 
in  the  big  houses.  Nowadays  the  estufas  are 
somewhat  mysterious  places  where  the  dancers 
practice  for  the  great  dances,  and  where,  on  the 
day  of  celebration,  they  dress  and  ornament  for 
the  event. 

At  the  pueblos  are  many  little  round-topped 
buildings  of  clay  and  stone.  They  have  a  small 
opening  or  door  at  the  bottom.  They  are  the 
ovens  for  baking  bread.  The  women  build  a  fine 
fire  of  dry  brush  inside  the  oven  until  it  is  heated 
thoroughly.  The  ashes  and  coals  are  then  raked 
out,  and  the  loaves  of  bread,  shaped  like  large 
rolls,  are  put  inside  on  the  floor,  and  a  sheepskin 
is  hung  at  the  door.  In  about  an  hour  the  bread 
is  removed,  well  baked  and  piping  hot.  Some 
years  ago  a  lady  visiting  Taos  wrote  a  descrip 
tion  of  that  pueblo.  She  mentioned  these  clay 
ovens,  and  said,  "  When  not  in  use  for  baking 
bread,  they  make  nice  dog  kennels."  We  have 
never  seen  any  except  such  as  had  the  doorway 
carefully  filled  up  with  stones  when  they  were 
not  in  use  for  baking. 


THE  PUEBLOS.  167 

The  bread  baked  in  these  ovens  is  made  of 
wheat  flour.  Another  kind,  called  paper-bread, 
is  made  of  corn.  The  chief  work  of  the  Pueblo 
woman  is  grinding  corn  meal.  The  grinding  is 
done  upon  a  stone  set  slantingly  on  the  ground. 
This  stone  is  called  a  metat'e.  The  woman  kneels 
in  front  of  it  and  holds  a  rubbing  stone  in  her 
hands.  Throwing  a  handful  of  grains  of  corn 
upon  the  metate,  she  rubs  it  to  meal  with  the 
rubbing  stone.  It  is  hard  work,  and  the  woman's 
body  moves  up  and  down,  up  and  down,  as  she 
grinds.  Usually  she  sings  in  time  to  her  move 
ments.  Sometimes  three  or  four  grindstones  are 
set  side  by  side,  separated  from  each  other  by 
boards.  Several  women  grind  together,  each  at 
one  of  the  stones.  The  first  grinds  the  corn  to 
a  coarse  meal ;  she  then  passes  it  to  the  next, 
who  grinds  it  finer,  and  then  passes  it  along  to 
be  made  still  finer. 

In  making  paper-bread  fine  corn  meal  is  mixed 
with  water  into  a  dough  or  batter.  A  fire  is 
then  built  under  a  flat  stone  with  a  smooth  top. 
When  this  is  hot,  the  woman  spreads  a  thin  sheet 
of  dough  upon  it  with  her  hand;  in  a  moment 
this  is  turned,  and  then  the  sheet,  which  is  almost 
as  thin  as  paper,  is  folded  or  rolled  up  and  is  ready 
to  eat.  The  color  of  paper-bread  varies,  but  com 
monly  it  is  a  dull  bluish-green  and  tastes  sweet 
and  good. 

For  threshing  wheat  the  Pueblos  prepare  a 
clean,  round  spot  of  ground,  perhaps  twenty  feet 


1 68  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

across.  It  is  smooth,  with  a  hard,  well-trodden 
floor  of  clay.  It  is  surrounded  with  a  circle  of 
poles  stuck  in  the  ground,  to  which  ropes  are 
fastened  in  order  to  make  an  enclosure. 

The  grain,  cut  in  the  fields,  is  brought  in  and 
heaped  up  on  the  clay  floor.  Ponies  are  driven 
into  the  enclosure,  and  a  boy  with  a  whip  keeps 
them  running  around.  They  tread  the  grain 
loose  from  the  chaff  or  husk.  In  the  afternoon, 
when  the  wind  has  risen,  men  with  wooden 
shovels  and  pitchforks  throw  the  grain  and  chaff 
into  the  air.  The  wheat,  being  heavy,  falls, 
while  the  chaff  is  blown  away.  When  the  grain 
has  thus  been  nearly  cleaned,  the  women  come 
with  great  bowl-shaped  baskets.  Spreading  a 
blanket  or  skin  robe  on  the  ground,  a  woman 
takes  a  basketful  of  the  grain,  holds  it  up  above 
her  head,  and  gently  shakes  it  from  side  to  side, 
pouring  out  a  little  stream  of  the  grain  all  the 
time.  As  this  falls,  the  wind  blows  out  the  last 
of  the  chaff  and  dirt,  and  the  grain  is  left  clean, 
ready  for  use. 


XXV. 

THE   SNAKE   DANCE. 

IN  northeastern  Arizona,  in  a  region  of  un 
usual  wildness,  even  for  the  Southwest,  lies  the 
Moki  Reservation.  There  are  seven  Moki  pueb- 


THE   SNAKE   DANCE.  169 

los  built  on  the  crests  of  the  mesas.  All  are 
built  of  stone.  The  two  largest  are  Walpi  and 
Oraibe.  Six  of  these  towns  speak  a  language 
related  to  that  of  the  Shoshones ;  the  seventh, 
Hano,  is  a  settlement  of  strangers  from  the  east, 
who  speak  the  language  of  Taos  on  the  Rio 
Grande.  The  Moki  pueblos  are,  in  some  ways, 
particularly  old-fashioned.  Here  the  women  do 
their  hair  up  curiously  :  it  is  parted  in  the  mid 
dle,  and  neatly  smoothed  out  at  the  sides;  be 
hind  it  is  done  up  in  two  queer,  rounded  masses, 
like  horns.  Formerly,  perhaps,  the  women  at 
some  other  pueblos  wore  their  hair  in  this  same 
way.  In  these  Moki  towns  they  weave  the  dark 
blue  or  black  woolen  manias,  or  dresses,  which 
are  worn  by  women  in  all  the  other  pueblos. 

In  most  respects  the  life  of  the  Moki  is  like 
that  of  other  Pueblo  Indians.  There  is,  how 
ever,  among  them  a  great  religious  ceremony, 
which  is  famous,  and  is  perhaps  the  wildest  and 
weirdest  of  all  Indian  rituals.  This  is  the  Snake 
Dance.  It  is  held  at  any  one  town  only  once 
in  two  years,  but  it  occurs  at  some  town  or  other 
every  year.  Thus  it  is  held  at  Walpi  in  the 
odd  years  — 1899,  1901;  it  is  held  at  Oraibe, 
the  even  years —  1900,  1902,  etc.  It  is  cele 
brated  about  the  middle  of  August,  and  always 
attracts  a  crowd  of  Indian  and  white  visitors. 

The  whole  ceremony,  of  which  the  snake 
dance  is  a  part,  requires  nine  days  or  more,  for 
its  celebration.  Most  of  the  things  are  done  in 


1 70  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

the  kiva,  or  estiifa,  secretly.  Dr.  Fewkes  has 
given  a  full  account  of  these,  some  of  which  are 
very  curious.  During  the  earlier  days  runners 
are  sent  out  to  place  prayer  sticks  at  the  springs 
and  sacred  places.  The  first  days  they  are  sent 
out  the  messengers  go  to  the  more  distant  shrines, 
but  each  day  take  in  places  nearer  and  nearer 
home.  During  the  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth 
days  snake  hunts  take  place ;  the  hunter  priests 
go  out  to  capture  living  snakes.  The  first  day 
they  go  to  the  north,  the  second  to  the  west,  the 
third  to  the  south,  the  fourth  to  the.  east.  All 
kinds  of  snakes  are  taken,  though  perhaps  the 
rattlesnakes  are  most  prized.  Few  white  men 
have  ever  seen  the  snake  hunt.  One  who  has 
seen  it  writes : 

"  In  a  short  time  a  low  call  came  from  a  man 
who  was  thrusting  his  stick  into  a  dense  clump  of 
greasewood,  and  as  the  hunters  gathered,  there 
was  found  to  be  a  large  rattlesnake,  lying  in  the 
heart  of  the  thicket.  Without  hesitation  they  at 
once  proceeded  to  cut  away  the  bushes  with  their 
hoes,  and  strangely  enough,  although  the  snake 
lay  in  coil  and  watching  them,  it  made  no  rat 
tling  or  other  display  of  anger.  One  of  the  twigs 
fell  upon  it,  and  the  man  nearest  stooped  down 
and  deliberately  lifted  the  branch  away.  Each  one 
then  sprinkled  a  pinch  of  meal  upon  the  snake, 
and  the  man  who  had  found  it  bent  over  and 
tapped  it  lightly  with  the  feathers  of  his  snake 
whip,  and  then  it  straightened  out  to  make  off, 


THE  SNAKE  DANCE.  I /I 

but  just  as  it  relaxed  from  coil,  the  hunter,  using 
his  right  hand,  in  which  he  held  his  snake  whip, 
instantly  seized  it  a  few  inches  back  of  the  head. 
Holding  it  out,  he  gave  it  a  quick  shake,  and  then 
proceeded  to  fold  it  up  and  put  it  in  one  of  the 
small  bags  carried  for  this  purpose,  showing  no 
more  concern  in  its  handling  than  if  it  had  been 
a  ribbon."  All  these  snakes  are  cared  for,  being 
put  into  jars  or  vessels  in  the  kiva. 

We  can  speak  of  few  things  in  the  kiva.  The 
altars  of  colored  sands,  the  dances,  the  songs, 
the  sacred  vessels,  and  other  objects  used,  the 
dramatic  representation  of  passages  from  their 
legends,  are  all  curious.  We  have  not  time  to 
speak  of  them.  On  the  eighth  day,  the  priests 
of  the  antelope  society  dance,  sing  the  sixteen 
songs,  and  perform  a  drama,  all  in  the  kiva. 
At  last  the  ninth  day  arrives. 

The  plaza,  or  square,  in  the  middle  of  the 
town  has  been  prepared.  In  it  is  the  kisi,  built 
of  green  boughs,  intended  as  a  shelter  for  the 
snakes.  In  front  of  it  is  a  board  in  which  is  a 
hole,  called  the  sipapu.  This  hole  is  supposed 
to  lead  down  into  the  lower  world,  where  people 
used  to  live.  Early  in  the  morning  there  was  a 
race  between  boys  and  girls.  They  went  first 
to  the  fields,  and  then  raced  in,  each  bringing  a 
load  of  melon  vines,  corn  plants,  or  other  vege 
table  life.  These  they  placed  in  the  plaza. 

At  noon  the  snakes  are  washed  in  the  kiva.  A 
great  bowl  is  brought  in  and  carefully  set  down. 


1/2  AMERICAN    INDIANS. 

Into  it  liquid  is  poured  from  the  north,  west, 
south,  and  east.  The  snakes,  which  have  been 
kept  in  jars  at  the  corners  of  the  room,  are  taken 
and  handed  to  certain  priests  near  the  washbowl. 
All  those  in  the  kiva  begin  to  shake  their  rattles 
and  to  sing  in  a  low,  humming  voice.  The  priests 
holding  the  snakes  begin  to  beat  time  with  them 
up  and  down  above  the  liquid.  The  song  in 
creases,  becoming  "  louder  and  wilder,  until  it 
bursts  forth  into  a  fierce,  blood-curdling  yell,  or 
war-cry.  At  this  moment  the  heads  of  the  snakes 
were  thrust  several  times  into  the  liquid,  so  that 
even  parts  of  their  bodies  weve  submerged,  and 
were  then  drawn  out,  not  having  left  the  hands 
of  the  priests,  and  forcibly  thrown  across  the 
room  upon  the  sand  mosaic.  ...  As  they  fell 
on  the  sand  picture,  three  snake  priests  stood  in 
readiness,  and  while  the  reptiles  squirmed  about, 
or  coiled  for  defense,  these  men,  with  their  snake 
whips,  brushed  them  back  and  forth  in  the  sand 
of  the  altar.  .  .  .  The  low,  weird  song  continued 
while  other  rattlesnakes  were  taken  in  the  hands 
of  the  priests,  and  as  the  song  rose  again  to  the 
wild  war-cry,  these  snakes  were  also  plunged  into 
the  liquid  and  thrown  upon  the  writhing  mass, 
which  now  occupied  the  place  of  the  altar.  .  .  . 
Every  snake  in  the  collection  was  thus  washed." 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  near  sunset,  the  ante 
lope  priests  in  all  their  finery  and  paint  appear 
in  a  procession  and  circle  four  times  around  the 
plaza,  dancing  as  they  go  and  thumping  heavily 


THE   SNAKE  DANCE.  1/3 

upon  the  board  in  front  of  the  kisi  as  they  pass 
over  it.  Then  they  draw  up  in  line  before  the 
kisi.  Then  the  snake  priests  come  out  of  their 
kiva,  with  bodies  painted  red  and  their  chins  black, 
with  white  lines.  They  wear  dark  red  kilts  and 
moccasins.  They  dance  four  times  around  the 
plaza,  but  with  more  energy  and  wildness  than 
the  antelope  priests  had  done.  They  then  draw 
up  in  a  line  opposite  the  antelope  priests  and  go 
through  with  strange  singing  and  movements. 

Suddenly  the  party  of  snake  priests  divides 
into  bands  of  three  persons.  These  little  bands 
approach  the  kisi,  where  the  snakes  have  been 
placed.  One  of  the  men  kneels,  and  when 
he  rises  holds  a  snake  in  his  hand.  This  he 
places  squirming  in  his  mouth,  holding  it  at 
about  the  middle  of  its  body.  One  of  his  com 
panions  throws  an  arm  about  the  neck  of  the 
snake  carrier ;  in  his  other  hand  he  holds  a 
feather  wand  or  brush,  with  which  he  brushes  at 
the  snake  as  if  to  attract  his  attention.  The 
third  man  of  the  band  follows  the  other  two.  In 
this  way  they  go  with  the  wriggling  snake.  Four 
times  these  bands  of  three  go  around  the  plaza, 
when  the  snakes  are  dropped.  The  followers 
catch  them  up  at  once.  When  all  the  snakes 
have  been  danced  with  and  are  gathered  into  the 
arms  of  the  followers,  an  old  priest  advances  into 
the  center  of  the  plaza  and  makes  a  ring  of  sacred 
meal.  Those  holding  the  snakes  run  up  and 
throw  them  into  one  squirming,  writhing  mass 


CLIFF  DWELLINGS  AND   RUINS  OF  THE  SOUTHWEST. 

within  this  ring.  All  the  priests  then  rush  in, 
seize  what  snakes  they  can,  and  dart  with  them, 
down  the  trail,  out  into  the  open  country,  where 
they  release  the  snakes  to  go  where  they  please. 
Meantime,  the  antelope  priests  close  the  public 
ceremony  by  marching  gravely  four  times  round 
the  plaza. 

This  ceremony  is  a  prayer  for  rain.  It  also 
celebrates  in  a  dramatic  form  the  story  of  how 
the  great  snake  and  antelope  societies  began. 
The  snakes  gathered  in  the  fields  hear  the  prayers 
of  the  people,  and  when  they  are  loosed  carry 
them  to  the  gods. 

JESSE  WALTER  FEWKES.  —  Naturalist,  ethnologist.  Now  with 
the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  Washington,  D.C.  Has  written  a 
number  of  papers  about  the  snake  dance. 

JOHN  G.  BOURKE.  —  Soldier,  ethnologist.  Was  the  first 
American  ethnologist  to  describe  the  Snake  Dance  of  the  Moki. 


XXVI. 

CLIFF  DWELLINGS   AND   RUINS   OF  THE 
SOUTHWEST. 

THROUGH  a  large  area  in  Colorado,  New  Mexico, 
Arizona,  and  Utah,  also  in  parts  of  northern  Mex 
ico,  there  are  found  several  kinds  of  ancient  ruins. 
At  some  places  they  are  pretty  well  preserved,  and 
walls  still  stand  to  a  considerable  height.  At 
others  they  are  mere  heaps  of  stone  blocks  or 
crumbling  adobe  bricks.  The  three  best  defined 


1 76  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

types  of  buildings  found  in  these  ruins  are  old 
pueblos,  cliff  ruins,  and  cave  houses. 

Zufii  is  the  largest  inhabited  pueblo.  Not  far 
from  it  lies  Old  Zufii ;  and  under  the  ruins  of 
Old  Zufii  lie  the  ruins  of  a  yet  older  pueblo. 
Such  ruins  of  old  pueblos  number  hundreds  in 
the  Southwest.  Sometimes  the  old  walls  were 
built  of  stone,  carefully  laid,  and  with  the  cracks 
neatly  chinked  with  splinters  of  stone  ;  sometimes 
the  stones  of  the  walls  were  laid  in  adobe  cement ; 
sometimes  the  walls  were  constructed  of  great 
adobe  bricks.  These  old  pueblos  were  in  style 
and  character  like  those  now  inhabited.  They 
were  often  three  or  four  stories  high  and  terraced 
from  in  front  back.  Sometimes  they  were  ellip 
tical  or  rounded  in  general  form,  but  more  com 
monly  they  were  built  around  the  three  sides  of 
a  central  court,  upon  which  the  buildings  faced. 
Some  of  these  old  pueblos  were  larger  than  any 
now  occupied,  and  many  of  them  were  better  built. 

The  cliff  dwellings  were  built  on  ledges  of  rock 
along  the  sides  of  cliffs.  Many  of  the  streams  of 
the  Southwest  flow  through  deep  and  narrow 
gorges  cut  in  the  solid  rock.  Such  gorges  are  there 
called  canons.  Among  the  famous  cliff-dwellings 
are  those  in  the  canon  of  the  Chelley  River, 
and  those  in  Mancos  Canon.  Here  are  houses 
perched  up  on  ledges  or  stowed  away  in  natural 
caverns.  Some  of  them  are  hundreds  of  feet 
above  the  stream,  and  have  a  perpendicular  rock 
wall  for  one  hundred  feet  below  them.  These 


CLIFF  DWELLINGS  AND  RUINS  OF  THE  SOUTHWEST.      177 

houses  are  carefully  built  with  stone  laid  in 
cement.  Besides  houses  of  many  rooms,  and 
of  two  or  more  stories,  there  are  circular  towers. 
Plainly,  the  people  who  built  these  houses  did  it 
to  secure  themselves  from  attack.  Their  gardens 
and  fields  must  have  been  far  below  in  the  valley. 
The  cave  houses  were  usually  dug  out  in  the 
rocks  by  human  beings.  They  were  cut  in  the 


CLIFF   RUINS  AT   MANGOS  CANON.     (AFTER   PHOTOGRAPH.) 

soft  rock  with  picks  or  axes  of  stone.  Some  of 
these  dwellings  were  cut  out  as  simple  open  caves. 
In  such,  there  were  walls  erected  at  the  front. 
The  cave  might  be  so  cut  that  the  rock  face  re 
mained  for  the  front  wall  of  the  house ;  a  hole 
was  first  cut  for  a  doorway,  and  then  the  room  or 
rooms  would  be  dug  out  from  it  behind  the  cliff 
wall. 

Some   persons    believe    these   three    kinds    of 


178  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

houses  were  built  by  three  distinct  peoples  or 
tribes.  This  is  not  likely,  for  sometimes  two  or 
all  three  kinds  are  found  together,  so  related  as 
to  show  that  all  were  occupied  at  one  time  by  the 
people  of  one  village. 

About  twenty  or  twenty-five  miles  up  the  Rio 
Grande  from  the  pueblo  of  Cochiti,  New  Mexico, 
is  a  brook  called  El  Rito  de  los  Frijoles,  which 
means  "  the  brook  of  the  beans."  It  runs  in  a 
fine  gorge  with  rock  banks ;  large  pine  trees  grow 
in  the  valley  and  cap  the  summits  of  the  chasm. 
In  one  of  the  side  cliffs  are  hundreds  of  holes, 
the  remains  of  old  dug  cave  rooms  and  houses. 
In  most  of  them  the  rock  cliff  face  itself  forms 
the  front  wall  of  the  house.  We  entered  one 
single-roomed  house  that  looked  almost  as  if  it 
had  been  used  yesterday. 

We  crept  in  through  a  little  doorway  about 
a  dozen  feet  up  in  the  cliff  and  found  ourselves 
in  a  small  room  about  fifteen  feet  square.  We 
could  see  the  marks  on  the  roof  and  the  upper 
part  of  the  walls,  where  stone  picks  had  been 
used  in  cutting  out  the  house.  The  floor  was 
neatly  smoothed,  and  covered  with  hard  clay. 
The  lower  part  of  the  wall  was  finished  smooth 
with  clay,  washed  over  with  a  thin  coat  of  fine 
cream-colored  clay.  The  roof  was  black  with 
the  smoke  of  ancient  fires ;  a  little  smoke-hole 
pierced  the  forward  wall,  near  and  above,  but 
at  one  side  of,  the  door.  There  were  niches 
cut  out  in  the  wall,  where  little  treasures  used  to 


CLIFF  DWELLINGS  AND  RUINS  OF  THE  SOUTHWEST.     179 

be  kept.  Ends  of  poles  set  in  the  rock  seemed 
to  be  pegs  upon  which  objects  were  hung;  their 
unevenly  cut  ends  showed  the  marks  of  stone 
axes.  In  the  floor  we  found  a  line  of  loops  to 
which  the  bottom  pole  of  the  old  blanket-weaving 
loom  must  have  been  fastened. 

But  these  cave  houses  are  not  the  only  ruins 
at  El  Rito.  Along  certain  parts  of  the  cliff  are 
remains  of  ancient  buildings  of  the  true  pueblo 
type,  which  had  been  built  against  the  base  of  the 
cliff.  They  are  often  placed  in  such  a  way  with 
reference  to  cave  rooms  in  the  cliff  as  to  show 
that  both  were  parts  of  one  great  building.  Thus, 
on  the  ground  floor  there  might  be  two  pueblo 
rooms  in  front  of  a  cave  room,  on  the  second 
floor  there  might  be  one  pueblo  room  in  front  of 
one  cave  room,  and  on  the  third  floor  there  might 
be  only  cave  rooms.  Following  up  the  canon  a 
little  way  from  this  mass  of  ruins,  passing  other 
cave  houses,  and  heaped-up  rubbish  of  old  pueblo 
walls,  on  the  way,  we  see,  perhaps  a  hundred  feet 
up  the  cliff,  a  great  natural  cavern.  Climbing 
to  it,  we  find  as  genuine  cliff  houses  constructed 
therein  as  those  of  Mancos  Canon  itself.  It  is 
certain  that  at  El  Rito  the  people  built  at  one 
time  the  three  kinds  of  houses, —  the  pueblo,  the 
cliff  house,  the  cave  house. 

At  EL  Rito  we  find  what  is  common  near  these 
ruins  in  many  places,  —  great  numbers  of  pictures 
cut  in  the  rock  wall.  These  pictures  are  some 
times  painted  as  well  as  cut  in,  and  often  repre- 


l8o  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

sent  the  sun,  the  moon,  human  beings,  and  ani 
mals. 

Many  relics  are  found  at  these  ruins.  The 
old  metates  and  rubbing  stones  for  grinding 
meal  are  common.  Axes,  adzes,  and  picks  of 
stone  are  not  rare,  and  once  in  a  while  a  speci 
men  is  found  with  the  old  handle  still  attached. 
These  stone  tools  have  a  Groove  around  the 

o 

blade.  A  flexible  branch  was  bent  around  this 
and  tied,  thus  forming  the  handle.  Many  round 
pebbles  are  found  which  are  much  battered ; 
these  were  hammers.  Pieces  of  sandstone  are 
found  with  straight  grooves  worn  across  them ; 
they  were  used  to  straighten  and  smooth  arrows 
on.  Arrow  heads  and  spear  heads  made  of  chert, 
jasper,  chalcedony,  and  obsidian,  are  common. 
Sometimes  yarns  of  different  colors,  bits  of  cloth, 
and  objects  made  of  hair  are  found.  Sandals 
neatly  woven  of  yucca  fiber  are  common. 

In  many  of  these  old  caves  dried  bodies  have 
been  found.  They  are  usually  called  "  mummies," 
but  wrongly  so.  Sometimes  sandals  are  found 
still  upon  their  feet,  and  not  rarely  the  blankets 
made  of  feather  cloth,  in  which  they  were 
wrapped,  are  preserved.  This  was  made  by 
fastening  feathers  into  a  rather  open-work  cloth 
of  cords. 

The  art  of  all  arts,  however,  among  the  people 
who  built  these  ancient  houses  is  the  one  in 
which  modern  Pueblos  excel,  —  pottery.  Thou 
sands  of  whole  vessels  have  been  taken  from 


TRIBES  OF  THE  NORTHWEST  COAST.  l8l 

these  ruins.  There  are  many  forms,- — great 
water-jars,  flasks,  cups,  bowls,  ladles,  —  and,  in 
ware  and  decoration,  they  are  much  better  than 
those  made  by  modern  Pueblos.  The  ware  is 
generally  thinner,  better  baked,  firmer,  and  gives 
a  better  ring  when  struck.  The  decorations  are 
usually  good  geometrical  designs. 

The  ancient  builders  were,  in  culture,  mode 
of  life,  and  architecture,  much  like  the  modern 
Pueblos.  It  is  probable  that  some  of  them 
were  the  ancestors  of  the  Pueblo  Indians.  The 
Mokis  claim  that  some  of  the  ruins  of  the 
McElmo  Canon  were  the  old  homes  of  their 
people;  and  the  inhabitants  of  Cochiti  assert 
that  it  was  their  forefathers  who  lived  at  El 
Rito  de  los  Frijoles.  We  cannot  say  of  every 
ruined  building  who  built  it,  but  certainly  the 
builders  were  Indians  very  like  the  Pueblos. 

ADOLF  F.  BANDELIER.  —  Historian,  archaeologist;  made  an 
extended  study  of  the  ruins  of  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and 
northern  Mexico. 


XXVII. 

TRIBES   OF   THE   NORTHWEST  COAST. 

A  LONG  and  narrow  strip  of  land  stretches 
from  Vancouver  Island  northward  to  Alaska.  It 
is  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  great  mountains, 
on  the  west  by  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Its  coast 


1 82  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

line  is  irregular;  narrow  fiords  run  far  into  the 
land.  The  climate  is  generally  temperate,  but 
there  is  much  rain.  Dense  forests  of  pine,  cedar, 
hemlock,  and  maple  cover  the  mountain  slopes. 
Many  kinds  of  berries  grow  there  abundantly, 
supplying  food  for  man.  In  the  mountain  for 
ests  are  deer,  elk,  caribou ;  both  black  and  grizzly 
bears  are  found ;  wolves  are  not  uncommon.  In 
the  remoter  mountains  are  mountain  sheep  and 
mountain  goats.  Beaver  and  otter  swim  in  the 
fresh  waters,  while  the  seal,  fur  seal,  sea-lion,  and 
whale  are  found  in  the  sea.  In  the  waters  are 
also  many  fish,  such  as  halibut,  cod,  salmon,  her 
ring,  and  oolachen  ;  shell-fish  are  abundant. 

In  this  interesting  land  are  many  different 
tribes  of  Indians,  speaking  languages  which  in 
some  cases  are  very  unlike.  Among  the  more 
important  tribes  or  group  of  tribes,  are  the  Tlingit, 
Haida,  Tshimpshian,  and  Kwakiutl.  While  all 
these  tribes  are  plainly  Indians,  there  are  many 
persons  among  them  who  are  light-skinned  and 
brown-haired.  The  hair  is  also  at  times  quite 
wavy.  The  forms  are  good  and  the  faces  pleasing. 

But  these  Indians  are  not  always  satisfied  with 
the  forms  and  faces  nature  gives  them.  They 
have  various  fashions  which  change  their  appear- 
ance.  Among  these  is  changing  the  shape  of 
the  head.  Formerly  the  Chinooks,  living  near 
the  Columbia  River,  changed  the  shape  of  all  the 
baby  boys'  heads.  The  bones  of  the  head  in  a 
little  baby  are  soft  and  can  be  pressed  out  of 


TRIBES  OF  THE  NORTHWEST  COAST. 


183 


shape.  As  the  child  grows  older,  the  bones  be-' 
come  harder  and  cannot  be  easily  altered.  The 
Chinooks  made  the  little  head  wedge-shaped  in 
a  side  view.  This  was 
done  by  a  board,  which 
was  hinged  to  the  cradle- 
board,  and  brought  down 
upon  the  little  boy's 
forehead.  It  forced  the 
head  to  broaden  in  front 
and  the  forehead  to 
slant  sharply.  After  the 
pressure  had  been  kept 
on  for  some  months, 
the  shape  of  the  head 
was  fixed  for  life.  From 
the  strange  shape  of 
their  heads  thus  pro 
duced,  the  Chinooks 
were  often  called  "  Flat- 
heads."  On  Vancouver  Island  the  head  of  the 
Koskimo  baby  girl  was  forced  by  circular  ban 
dages  wrapped  around  it  to  grow  long  and 
cylindrical. 

Another  fashion  among  the  women  of  some 
tribes  was  the  piercing  of  the  lower  lip  for  the 
wearing  of  a  plug  as  an  ornament.  Thus,  when 
a  little  girl  among  the  Haida  was  twelve  or 
thirteen  years  old,  her  aunt  or  grandmother  took 
her  to  some  quiet  place  along  the  seashore;  there 
she  pierced  a  little  hole  in  the  lower  lip  of  the 


CHINOOK  BABY  IN  CRADLE.      (FROM 
MASON.) 


1 84 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


child,  using  a  bit  of  sharp  shell  or  stone.  To 
keep  the  hole  from  closing  when  it  healed,  a  bit 
of  grass  stalk  was  put  into  it.  For  a  few  days 
the  place  was  sore,  but  it  soon  got  well.  The  bit 
of  stalk  was  then  removed,  and  a  little  peg  of 
wood  put  in.  Later  a  larger  peg  or  plug  was 
inserted.  When  the  girl  had  grown  to  be  an  old 

woman,  she  wore  a  large 
plug  in  her  lower  lip,  which 
would  hold  it  out  flat  almost 
like  a  shelf. 

Many  of  the  Northwest 
Coast  tribes  tattooed ;  gen 
erally  the  men  were  more 
marked  with  this  than  wo 
men.  The  patterns  were 
usually  animal  figures,  show 
ing  the  man's  family.  The 
Haida  were  fond  of  having 
these  queer  pictures  pricked 
into  them.  Upon  their  breasts 
they  had  the  totem  animal ; 
on  their  arms  other  suitable 
patterns. 

The  villages  of  these  tribes  are  almost  always 
on  the  seashore.  The  houses  were  generally  in 
one  long  line,  and  all  faced  the  sea.  The  houses 
of  the  different  tribes  differed  somewhat.  The 
house  of  the  Haida  was  almost  square,  meas 
uring  perhaps  forty  or  fifty  feet  on  a  side.  In 
olden  times  they  were  sunk  several  feet  into  the 


TATTOOING  ON   A   HAIDA    MAN. 
(FROM    MALLERY.) 


TRIBES  OF  THE  NORTHWEST  COAST. 


185 


ground.  On  entering  the  house  the  visitor  found 
himself  upon  a  platform  several  feet  wide  run 
ning  around  the  four  sides;  from  it  he  stepped 
down  upon  a  second  platform,  and  from  it  upon 
a  central  square  of  dirt  which  contained  the  fire 
place.  The  eating  place  was  around  this  hearth ; 
the  place  for  lounging,  visiting,  and  sleeping  was 


GOLD  CHIEF'S  HOUSE,  QUEEN  CHARLOTTE'S  ISLAND.     (FROM  PHOTOGRAPH.) 

on  the  upper  platform.  There  each  person  of  the 
household  had  his  or  her  own  place.  At  its  rear 
edge,  near  the  wall,  were  boxes  containing  the  per 
son's  treasures  and  the  household's  food.  There 
was  but  one  doorway  and  no  windows  in  a  Haida 
house.  Outside  the  house,  at  the  middle  of  the 
front,  stood  a  curious,  great,  carved  post  of  wood. 
These  were  covered  with  queer-  animal  and  bird 


1 86  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

patterns,  each  with  some  meaning  (see  XXIX.). 
In.  Haida  houses  the  doorway  was  cut  in  the 
lower  part  of  this  great  post  or  pole. 

The  beach  in  front  of  the  village  used  to  be 
covered  with  canoes  dragged  up  on  the  sand. 
These  canoes  were  "  dugouts "  of  single  tree 
trunks.  The  logs  were  cut  in  summer  time,  the 
best  wood  being  yellow  cedar.  The  chief  tool 
used  was  the  adze,  made  of  stone  or  shell.  Fire 
was  used  to  char  the  wood  to  be  cut  away.  After 
it  had  been  partly  cut  out  inside  it  was  stretched 
or  shaped  by  steaming  with  water  and  hot  stones, 
and  then  putting  in  stretchers.  Sometimes  single- 
log  canoes  were  large  enough  to  carry  from  thirty 
to  sixty  people.  They  were  often  carved  and 
painted  at  the  ends.  The  paddles  used  in  driv 
ing  these  canoes  were  rather  slender  and  long- 
bladed,  often  painted  with  designs. 

The  present  dress  of  these  Indians  is  largely 
the  same  as  our  own.  In  the  days  of  the  first 
voyagers,  they  wore  beautiful  garments  of  native 
manufacture.  They  had  quantities  of  fine  furs 
of  seals  and  sea-otters.  These  were  worn  as 
blankets  ;  when  not  in  use  they  were  carefully 
folded  and  laid  away  in  boxes.  They  wore  close 
and  fine  blankets  of  the  wool  of  the  mountain 
sheep  and  the  hair  of  the  mountain  goat.  These 
were  closely  woven  and  had  a  fine  long  fringe 
along  the  lower  border.  They  were  covered  with 
patterns  representing  the  totem  animals.  The 
blanket  itself  was  a  dirty  white  in  color,  but 


TRIBES   OF  THE  NORTHWEST  COAST. 


187 


the  designs  were  worked  in  black,  yellow,  or 
brown.  Further  south,  among  the  Tshimpshian 
Indians  of  British  Columbia,  fine  blankets  were 
woven  of  the  soft  and  flexible  inner  bark  of  the 
cedar ;  these  were  bordered  with  strips  of  fur. 

These     Indians    still    wear    the    ancient    hat. 
Among  the  southern  tribes  it  is  made  of  cedar 


BLANKET:  CHILCAT  INDIANS,  ALASKA.    (FROM  NIBLACK.) 

bark,  and  is  soft  and  flimsy.  In  the  north  it  is 
made  of  spruce  or  other  roots,  and  is  firm  and 
unyielding.  The  shape  of  the  lower  part  of  the 
hat  is  a  truncated  cone.  Among  the  Tlingit  and 
Haida  this  is  surmounted  by  a  curious,  tall  cylin 
der,  which  is  divided  into  several  joints,  or  seg 
ments,  called  skil.  The  number  of  these  shows 
the  importance  of  the  wearer. 


188 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


The  food  of  these  tribes  came  largely  from  the 
sea.  Fish  were  speared,  trapped,  and  caught  with 
hook  and  line.  For  halibut,  queer,  large,  wooden 

hooks  were  used. 
When  the  fish  had 
been  drawn  to  the 
surface,  they  were 
killed  with  wooden 
clubs.  Both  hooks 
and  clubs  were  cu 
riously  carved.  Flesh 
of  larger  fishes,  like 
halibut  and  salmon, 
was  dried  in  the  sun 
oroverfire,andpacked 
away.  Clams  were 
dried  and  strung  on 
sticks.  Seaweed  was 
dried  and  pressed  in 
to  great,  square  flat 

cakes ;  so  were  berries  and  scraped  cedar  bark. 
The  people  were  fond  of  oil,  and  got  it  from  many 
different  fish.  The  most  prized  was  that  of  the 
oolachen  or  candle-fish.  This  fish  is  so  greasy 
that  when  put  into  a  frying-pan,  there  is  soon 
nothing  left  but  some  bones  and  scales  floating 
about  in  the  grease  !  To  get  this  oil,  the  little  fish 
were  thrown  into  a  canoe  full  of  water.  This  was 
heated  with  stones  made  very  hot  in  a  fire,  and 
then  dropped  into  it.  The  heat  drove  out  the 
oil,  which  floated  on  the  top  and  was  skimmed  off 


HALIBUT  HOOKS  OF  WOOD.       (FROM  ORIGI 
NALS   IN   PEABODY   MUSEUM.) 


SOME   RAVEN   STORIES.  189 

and  put  into  natural  bottles — tubes  of  hollow 
seaweed  stalk.  At  all  meals  a  dish  of  oil  stood 
in  the  midst  of  the  party,  and  bits  of  dried  fish, 
seaweed  cake,  or  dried  bark  were  dipped  into  it 
before  being  eaten. 


XXVIII. 

SOME  RAVEN  STORIES. 

ALL  the  Northwest  Coast  tribes  had  many 
stories.  Some  of  these  stones  had  been  borrowed 
from  tribe  to  tribe,  and  were  told  at  many  different 
places.  Usually,  however,  the  single  tribes  had 
stories  that  were  favorites  with  them  and  really  be 
longed  to  them.  The  favorite  stories  among  the 
Tlingit  and  Haida  were  about  the  raven,  whom 
they  called  yetl.  There  were  many  stories  told  of 
him  and  his  doings.  It  is  difficult  sometimes  to 
tell  just  what  yetl  was — whether  bird  or  man.  He 
could  take  on  many  forms,  and  was  usually  the 
friend  of  the  Indians.  In  the  olden  time  they 
did  not  have  fire,  daylight,  fresh  water,  or  the 
oolachen  fish.  It  was  yetl,  the  raven,  called  also 
Nekilstlas,  who  got  them  these  good  things. 

All  of  these  precious  things  belonged  to  a 
great  chief  who  had  a  lovely  daughter.  The 
raven  made  love  to  this  maiden.  Once  when  at 
their  house  he  pretended  to  be  thirsty  and  begged 
her  for  a  drink  of  water.  The  girl  brought  it  to 


AMERICAN    INDIANS. 

him  in  a  bucket.  He  drank  a  little  and  laid  the 
rest  aside.  By  and  by  every  one  in  the  house 
was  fast  asleep  except  the  raven ;  he  was  watch 
ing.  He  then  got  up  quietly,  put  on  his  feather 
coat,  took  up  the  bucket  in  his  bill  and  flew  away 
with  it.  He  was  in  such  a  hurry  that  he  spilled 
the  water  here  and  there,  and  where  it  fell  there 
have  since  been  rivers  and  lakes.  Never  since 
that  time  have  the  Indians  been  without  water. 

But  it  was  much  harder  to  get  the  fire.  Ne- 
kilstlas  no  longer  dared  to  go  to  the  chief's  house 
or  to  make  love  to  the  maiden.  He,  however, 
changed  himself  into  a  spruce  needle  and  floated 
on  the  water.  He  was  thus  got  into  the  house 
without  any  one's  knowing  it,  and  there  he 
changed  into  a  little  boy  baby,  whom  the  girl 
treated  like  her  own  son.  He  stayed  there  a 
long  time,  waiting  his  chance.  At  last,  one  day, 
he  seized  a  burning  brand  from  the  fire  and  flew 
out  of  the  smoke-hole  in  the  roof  with  it.  He 
was  so  careless  that  he  set  fire  to  many  things. 
At  the  north  end  of  Vancouver  Island  many  of 
the  trees  are  black,  almost  as  if  they  were  burned, 
and  they  say  that  was  done  by  Nekilstlas  when 
he  flew  away  with  the  fire.  However  that  may 
be,  since  then  the  Indians  have  had  fire. 

The  old  chief  had  the  sun  and  the  moon,  but 
he  kept  them  away  from  the  people,  and  was  very 
proud  to  think  that  he  alone  had  light.  Nekilstlas 
had  to  think  a  long  time  before  he  could  make  a 
plan  to  secure  these  for  the  Indians.  At  last  he 


SOME   RAVEN   STORIES.  IQI 

made  himself  an  imitation  sun  and  put  on  it 
something  which  made  it  shine.  He  then  taunted 
the  chief  by  telling  him  that  he  too  had  a  light. 
For  a  time  the  chief  did  not  believe  him.  At  last 
Nekilstlas  drew  back  his  feather  coat  and  let  a 
piece  of  his  bogus  sun  be  seen.  The  chief  be 
lieved  it,  and  was  so  angry  that  he  placed  his  real 
sun  and  moon  in  the  sky,  where  they  have  been 
lights  to  the  Indians  ever  since. 

The  last  of  the  four  possessions  which  the 
raven  wanted  to  get  from  the  old  chief  for  his 
human  friends  was  the  oolachen  fish,  which  yields 
the  oil  of  which  the  Indians  are  so  fond.  The 
shag  is  a  dirty  seaside  bird  that  has  the  unpleas 
ant  habit  of  vomiting  up  its  food  when  it  is 
excited.  He  was,  however,  a  special  friend  of  the 
chief,  and  one  of  the  few  whom  he  used  to  invite 
to  eat  oolachen  with  him.  One  time  the  shag  had 
been  eating  pretty  heartily  at  the  chief's  house, 
and  afterward  the  raven  set  him  and  the  sea-gull 
to  fighting.  In  his  excitement  the  shag  threw 
up  the  fish  he  had  eaten.  The  raven  took  the 
scales  and  smeared  himself  and  his  canoe  all  over 
with  them.  Going  then  to  the  chief's  house,  he 
asked  if  he  might  come  in  and  rest,  that  he  was 
tired  out  from  catching  oolachen.  The  chief 
thought  at  first  that  he  was  telling  a  lie,  but  when 
he  saw  the  scales,  he  thought  there  must  be  other 
oolachen  besides  his,  and  in  his  rage  he  opened 
the  boxes  in  which  he  kept  them  and  let  them  all 
loose.  Since  then  the  Indians  have  had  abun- 


1 92  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

dance  of  the  oolachen  to  give  them  the  oil  they 
need. 

Besides  these  stones  of  the  things  the  raven 
got  for  them,  there  are  others.  The  raven  is  not 
always  the  friend  of  men,  and  sometimes  he  does 
them  harm  and  not  good.  There  is  a  story  of  the 
raven  and  the  fisherman.  This  fisherman  had 
much  trouble  from  some  one  stealing  the  bait  and 
fish  from  his  fish-hook.  The  thief  was  no  one 
else  than  the  raven.  The  fisherman  finally  put 
a  magic  hook  on  his  line  and  let  it  down. 
When  the  raven  tried  to  steal  from  this  he  was 
caught.  When  he  had  been  pulled  up  to  the 
surface  of  the  water,  he  struggled  fearfully,  by 
pressing  against  the  canoe  with  his  feet  and  his 
wings.  The  fisherman,  however,  was  too  strong 
for  him.  He  pulled  so  hard  that  he  tore  the 
raven's  beak  off,  and  then,  seizing  him,  dragged 
him  in  shore.  When  he  pulled  off  the  raven's 
beak,  the  bird  turned  into  a  man,  but  he  kept  his 
face  so  covered  up  with  his  feather  garment  that 
only  his  eyes  could  be  seen.  The  fisherman  could 
not  make  him  uncover  his  face ;  but  one  young 
man  who  stood  by  picked  up  a  handful  of  dirt 
and  rubbed  it  into  the  raven's  eyes.  Smarting 
with  pain  and  taken  by  surprise,  the  raven  threw 
off  his  mantle,  and  the  men  saw  who  he  was. 
The  raven  was  so  angry,  that  ever  since  then 
ravens  and  their  friends,  the  crows,  have  con 
stantly  troubled  fishermen. 

The  Tshimpshian,  who  live  south  of  the  Tlingit, 


SOME  RAVEN  STORIES.  193 

on  the  mainland,  have  a  story  of  the  raven.  They 
say  that  two  boys  lived  in  a  village.  One  of  them 
was  the  son  of  a  chief.  One  day  the  chief's  son 
said  to  the  other,  when  they  were  playing,  "  Let 
us  take  skins  of  birds  and  fly  up  to  heaven." 
They  did  so,  and  found  things  up  there  quite  like 
this  world.  They  found  a  house  there,  near  a 
pond  of  water ;  and  in  this  house  lived  a  chief, 
who  was  a  sort  of  deity.  The  daughters  of  this 
deity  caught  the  two  boys  and  were  finally  married 
to  them,  although  the  deity  did  not  like  them,  and 
tried  in  every  way  to  do  them  harm.  They  always 
escaped,  however.  They  lived  together  there  for 
a  long  time,  and  at  last  the  wife  of  the  chief's  son 
had  a  little  boy  baby.  One  day,  when  she  was 
playing  with  the  baby,  the  little  one  slipped  out 
of  her  hands,  and  fell  down,  down,  from  the  sky 
into  the  sea.  It  happened  that  it  was  found  and 
saved  by  the  chief,  who  was  really  the  baby's 
grandfather,  though  no  one  knew  it  at  the  time. 
When  the  little  one  had  been  taken  to  the  village, 
it  would  not,  for  some  time,  eat  anything.  They 
offered  it  salmon  and  berry  cake  and  hemlock 
bark,  but  he  would  not  touch  any  of  them.  At 
last  his  grandfather  said,  "  Feed  him  some  fish 
stomachs."  Then  the  little  fellow  began  to  eat 
very  greedily,  and  before  he  got  through  he  had 
eaten  up  all  the  food  that  the  village  had  stored 
away  for  use.  Then  he  surprised  every  one  by 
saying,  "  Don't  you  know  who  I  am  ?  I  am  the 


raven." 


INDIAN  CARRIER:  ALASKA.    (FROM  KRAUSE.) 


TOTEM   POSTS.  195 

But  the  stories  of  the  raven,  if  they  were  all 
written  out,  would  make  a  large  book.  The 
naughty,  greedy,  dirty  bird  was  the  great  hero 
of  these  peoples.  They  were  anxious  to  explain 
everything,  and  most  of  their  stories  are  to  tell 
how  things  came  to  be. 

Many  persons  have  made  collections  of  the  stories  of  the 
Northwest  Coast  tribes.  Boas,  Chamberlain,  Niblack,  and 
Deans  are  among  them. 


XXIX. 

TOTEM   POSTS. 

ON  approaching  villages  of  many  tribes  on 
the  Northwest  Coast,  the  traveler  sees  great  num 
bers  of  carved  wooden  posts.  The  largest,  most 
striking,  and  most  curious  are  no  doubt  those 
of  the  Tlingit  of  Alaska,  and  the  Haida  of 
Queen  Charlotte  Islands.  Some  of  these  posts 
stand  in  front  of  the  houses,  or  very  near  them ; 
others  are  set  near  the  beach,  beyond  the  village. 
When  old  they  are  weather-beaten  and  gray. 
They  are  sometimes  compared  to  a  forest  of 
tree  trunks  left  after  a  fire  has  swept  through 
a  wooded  district.. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  these  carved  posts, 
—  totem  posts,  commemorative  posts,  and  death 
posts.  The  death  posts  are  the  simplest  of  the 
three.  Among  the  Tlingit  and  Haida  the  dead 


196 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


were  usually  burned, 
portant,  a  display  was 
dressed  in  his 
all  his  treasures 
him.  People 
to  see  his  riches, 
the  burning  of 
Many  persons 
faces  of  the 
blackened,  their 
their  heads  were 
down.  After 
burned,  the  ashes 


If  the  man  had  been  im- 
made  of  his  body.  He  was 
finest  clothing,  and 
were  placed  around 
came  for  some  days 
At  last  the  day  for 
his  body  arrived, 
were  present.  The 
mourners  were 
hair  cut  short,  and 
sprinkled  with  eagle- 
the  body  had  been 
were  gathered  and 


CHIEF'S  HOUSE:  QUEEN  CHARLOTTE'S  INLET.    (FROM  PHOTOGRAPH.) 

put  into  a  box,  which  was  placed  in  a  cavity 
hollowed  out  in  the  lower  part  of  the  death 
post.  This  was  the  old  custom  ;  nowadays  the 
ashes  may  be  put  somewhere  else.  At  the  top 


TOTEM   POSTS.  1 97 

of  the  death  post  was  a  cross-board  on  which 
was  carved  or  painted  the  totem  of  the  dead 
man. 

The  second  kind  of  carved  post  is  the  com 
memorative  post,  put  up  to  celebrate  some  im 
portant  event.  An  old  chief  named  Skowl  once 
erected  a  great  post  near  his  house.  He  had 
erected  it  to  commemorate  the  failure  of  the 
Russian  missionaries  to  convert  his  village  to 
Christianity.  When  the  last  missionary  had 
gone,  he  put  it  up  to  recall  their  failure  and  to 
ridicule  their  religion.  It  was  curiously  carved. 
At  the  top  was  an  eagle ;  below  it  a  man  with 
his  right  hand  lifted,  pointing  to  the  sky ;  be 
low  it  an  angel ;  then  a  priest  with  his  hands 
crossed  upon  his  breast ;  then  an  eagle ;  lastly 
a  trader. 

The  totem  posts  are,  however,  the  most  inter 
esting.  They  are  taller,  more  carefully  made, 
and  more  elaborately  carved  than  the  others. 
They  stand  in  front  of  the  houses ;  among  Tlin- 
git  at  one  side,  among  Haida  at  the  very  mid 
dle  and  close  to  the  house.  In  fact,  among  the 
Haida  the  doorway  of  the  house  was  a  hole 
cut  through  the  lower  end  of  the  totem  post. 
The  carvings  on  these  posts  refer  to  the  people 
living  in  the  house.  Thus,  in  one  Haida  totem 
post  there  was  a  brown  bear  at  the  top  —  the 
totem  of  the  man  of  the  house ;  next  came  four 
skil  or  divisions  of  a  hat;  then  came  the  great 
raven;  then  the  bear  and  the  hunter;  then  a 


198  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

bear  —  the  last  being  the    totem   of   the  woman 
of  the  house. 

Among  the  Tlingit  and  Haida  every  one  bears 
the  name  of  some  animal  or  bird.  Thus,  among 
the  Tlingit  there  are  eighteen  great  families, 
with  the  name  of  wolf,  bear,  eagle,  whale,  shark, 
porpoise,  puffin,  orca,  orca-bear;  raven,  frog, 
goose,  beaver,  owl,  sea-lion,  salmon,  dogfish, 
crow.  The  first  nine  of  these  are  considered 
related  to  one  another;  so  are  the  last  nine 
related.  A  man  may  not  marry  a  woman  of 
his  own  animal  name  or  totem ;  nor  can  he 
marry  one  of  the  related  families.  Thus  a  wolf 
man  could  not  marry  a  woman  who  was  a  wolf, 
or  an  eagle,  or  a  shark,  but  he  might  marry  a 
raven  or  a  frog. 

x  With  us  a  child  takes  its  father's  name,  but 
with  these  people  it  takes  its  mother's  name. 
If  a  bear  man  married  a  raven  woman,  all  the 
children  would  be  ravens.  The  animal  whose 
name  a  man  bears  is  his  totem.  There  is 
always  some  story  told  by  people  as  to  how 
they  came  to  have  their  totem.  Every  one  be 
lieves  that  the  animal  that  is  his  totem  can  help 
him,  and  he  pays  much  respect  to  it. 

One  story  of  how  the  bear  became  a  totem  is 
as  follows :  Long,  long  ago  an  Indian  went  into 
the  mountains  to  hunt  mountain  goats.  When 
far  from  home  he  met  a  black  bear  who  took  him 
home  with  him,  and  taught  him  to  build  boats 
and  catch  salmon.  The  man  stayed  two  years 


TOTEM   POSTS.  1 99 

with  the  bear,  and  then  went  home  to  his  village. 
Every  one  feared  him,  for  they  thought  him  a 
bear;  he  looked  just  like  one.  One  man,  how 
ever,  caught  him  and  took  him  home  to  his  house. 
He  could  not  speak,  and  could  not  eat  cooked 
food.  A  great  medicine  man  advised  that  he 
should  be  rubbed  with  magic  herbs.  When  this 
was  done,  he  became  a  man  again.  After  that, 
whenever  he  wanted  anything,  he  went  out  into 
the  woods  and  found  his  bear  friend,  who  always 
helped  him.  What  the  bear  taught  him  was  of 
great  use  to  him,  and  he  caught  plenty  of  salmon 
in  the  winter  time  when  the  river  was  covered 
with  ice.  The  man  built  a  fine  new  house,  and 
painted  the  picture  of  a  bear  upon  it.  His  sister 
made  him  a  new  dancing  blanket,  and  into  it  she 
wove  a  picture  of  a  bear.  Ever  since  then  the 
descendants  of  that  man's  sister  have  the  bear  for 
their  totem. 

Now  you  see  something  of  the  meaning  of  the 
totem  posts.  Upon  them  are  carved  the  totems 
of  the  people  living  in  the  house.  They  are  a 
great  doorplate,  giving  the  names  of  the  family. 
This  is  important,  because  among  Indians  all  the 
persons  who  have  the  same  totem  must  help  one 
another.  If  a  man  were  in  trouble,  it  was  the 
duty  of  his  totem-fellows  to  aid  him.  If  he  were 
a  stranger,  it  was  their  duty  to  receive  him.  When 
a  Tlingit  or  Haida  found  himself  in  a  strange 
village,  his  first  care  would  be  to  examine  the 
totem  posts  to  find  one  that  bore  his  own  totem. 


200 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


At  the  house  marked  by  it  he  would  surely  be 
welcome. 

But  it  was  a  rare  thing  for  a  totem  post  to  have 
only  the  figures  of  the  totems  of  the  man  and  his 
wife.  Other  designs  were  carved  in  between 
these.  These  other  designs  might  tell  of  the 
man's  wealth  or  his  importance,  or  they  might 
represent  some  family  story.  The  people  of  every 


IAT    OF    NORTHWEST    COAST,   TOP  VIEW.      HAT     OF     NORTHWEST     COAST,    SIDE    VIEW, 
(FROM  ORIGINAL  IN  PEABODY  MUSEUM.)          (FROM   ORIGINAL  IN  PEABODY   MUSEUM.) 

totem  had  many  stones  which  belonged  only  to 
them.  In  the  totem  post,  already  described,  prob 
ably  the  great  raven,  and  the  bear,  and  the  hunter, 
represented  such  stories.  The  four  skil  probably 
indicated  that  the  man  was  important,  for  a  man's 
importance  is  shown  by  the  number  of  skil  in  his 
hat.  The  carving  at  the  bottom,  however,  was 
most  significant,  for  it  gave  the  name  of  the 
woman  and  all  her  children. 


INDIANS   OF   CALIFORNIA.  2OI 

ALBERT  P.  NIBLACK,  of  the  United  States  navy,  has  written 
The  Coast  Indians  of  Southern  Alaska  and  Northern  British 
Columbia. 


XXX. 

INDIANS   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

NOWHERE  among  American  Indians  are  more 
languages  found  in  a  smaller  space  than  in  Cali 
fornia.  Those  spoken  near  the  Coast,  within 
the  area  of  the  Missions,  appear  to  belong  to 
at  least  nine  language  families  or  stocks.  In 
Powell's  map  the  state  looks  like  a  piece  of 
patchwork,  so  many  are  the  bits  of  color,  which 
represent  different  languages.  These  Coast  In 
dians  of  California  were  ugly  to  see.  They  were 
of  medium  stature,  awkwardly  shaped,  with 
scrawny  limbs ;  they  had  dull  faces,  with  fat 
and  round  noses,  and  looked  much  like  negroes, 
only  their  hair  was  straight.  In  disposition  they 
were  said  to  be  sluggish,  indolent,  cowardly,  and 
unenterprising.  Some  tribes  in  the  interior  were 
better,  but  none  of  the  California  Indians  seem 
to  have  presented  a  high  physical  type  or  much 
comfort  in  life. 

We  shall  say  little  about  the  life  and  customs 
of  the  California  Indians,  and  what  we  do  say 
will  be  chiefly  about  the  Coahuilla  tribe.  These 
Indians  live  in  the  beautiful  high  Coahuilla  Val 
ley  in  Southern  California.  Formerly  at  least 
part  of  the  tribe  were  "  Mission  Indians,"  Some 


2O2 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


of  them  were  connected  with  the  San  Gabriel 
Mission  near  the  present  city  of  Los  Angeles. 
They  appear  to  present  a  better  type  than  many 
of  the  Mission  Indians,  being  larger,  better  built, 
and  stronger.  Ramona,  who  was  the  heroine  of 
Helen  Hunt  Jackson's  story,  is  a  Coahuilla  In 
dian,  still  living.  If  she  ever  was  beautiful,  it 


GRANARY   AT  COAHUILLA.      (FROM   PHOTOGRAPH.) 

must  have  been  long  ago,  although  she  is  not 
an  old  woman.  These  Indians  live  in  little 
houses,  largely  built  of  brush,  scattered  over 
the  valley.  They  have  some  ponies  and  cattle, 
and  cultivate  some  ground.  Near  every  house, 
perched  upon  big  boulders,  are  quaint  little 
structures  made  of  woven  willows  and  like  big 
beehives  in  form ;  they  are  granaries  for  stowing 
away  acorns  or  grain. 


INDIANS   OF   CALIFORNIA. 


203 


Acorns  are  much  used  by  California  Indians. 
They  are  bitter  and  need  to  be  sweetened. 
They  are  first  pounded  to  a  meal  or  flour.  A 
wide  basket  is  filled  with  sand,  which  is  care 
fully  scooped  away  so  as  to  leave  a  basin-shaped 
surface;  the  acorn  meal  is  spread  upon  this, 
and  water  is  poured  upon  it.  The  bitterness  is 
soaked  out,  and  the  meal  left  sweet  and  good. 


COILED  BASKETS:  CALIFORNIA.    (FROM  PHOTOGRAPH.) 

A  fine  art  among  most  Californian  tribes  is  the 
making  of  baskets.  Those  made  at  Coahuilla 
are  mostly  what  is  known  as  "  coiled  work." 
A  bunch  of  fine,  slender  grass  is  taken  and 
treated  as  if  it  were  a  rope.  It  is  coiled  around 
and  around  in  a  close  coil.  Long  strips  of  reed 
grass  are  then  taken  and  wrapped  like  a  thread 
around  the  coiled  rope,  sewing  the  coil  at  each 


204  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

wrapping  to  the  next  coil.  In  this  way  the 
foundation  coiled  rope  of  grass  is  entirely  cov 
ered  and  concealed  by  the  wrapping  of  reed 
grass,  and  at  the  same  time  firmly  united.  By 
using  differently  colored  strips  of  the  reed 
grass,  patterns  are  worked  in.  Horses,  men, 
geometrical  patterns,  and  letters  are  common. 
Among  some  Californian  tribes  such  baskets 
were  covered  with  brilliant  feathers,  which  were 
woven  in  during  the  making. 

Among  the  delicacies  of  some  south  Cali 
fornian  tribes  was  roasted  mescal.  Mescal  is 
a  plant  of  the  desert,  with  great,  pointed,  fleshy 
leaves.  At  the  proper  time  it  throws  up  a 
huge  flower-stalk,  which  bears  great  numbers 
of  flowers.  Mr.  Lummis  describes  the  roasting 
of  its  leaves  and  stalks :  "  A  pit  was  dug,  and 
a  fire  of  the  greasewood's  crackling  roots  kept 
up  therein  until  the  surroundings  were  well 
heated.  Upon  the  hot  stones  of  the  pit  was 
laid  a  layer  of  the  pulpiest  sections  of  the  mes 
cal  ;  upon  this  a  layer  of  wet  grass ;  then  another 
layer  of  mescal,  and  another  of  grass,  and  so  on. 
Finally  the  whole  pile  was  banked  over  with 
earth.  The  roasting  —  or,  rather,  steaming  — 
takes  from  two  to  four  days.  .  .  .  When  he 
banks  the  pile  with  earth,  he  arranges  a  few  long 
bayonets  of  the  mescal  so  that  their  tips  shall 
project.  When  it  seems  to  him  that  the  roast 
should  be  done,  he  withdraws  one  of  these  plugs. 
If  the  lower  end  is  well  done,  he  uncovers  the 


INDIANS   OF  CALIFORNIA.  2O5 

heap  and  proceeds  to  feast;  if  still  too  rare,  he 
possesses  his  soul  in  patience  until  a  later  ex 
periment  proves  the  baking."  This  method  of 
roasting  mescal  is  about  the  same  pursued  far 
ther  north  with  camas  root. 

A  gambling  game  common  among  Californian 
tribes  is  called  by  the  Spanish  name  peon.  It  is 
very  similar  to  a  game  played  in  many  other 
parts  of  the  United  States  by  many  Indian  tribes. 
It  consists  simply  of  guessing  in  which  of  two 
hands  the  marked  one  of  two  sticks  or  objects 
is  held.  The  game  is  played  by  two  parties, 
one  of  which  has  the  sticks,  while  the  other 
guesses.  Each  success  is  marked  by  a  stick 
or  counter  for  the  winner,  and  ten  counts  make 
a  game.  Among  the  Coahuillas  there  are  four 
persons  on  a  side.  Songs  are  sung,  which  become 
loud  and  wild ;  at  times  the  players  break  into 
fierce  barking.  Then  the  guess  is  made.  Great 
excitement  arises,  which  grows  wilder  and  wilder 
toward  the  end  of  a  close  game.  Violent  move 
ments  and  gestures  are  made  to  deceive  the  care 
fully  watching  guessers.  Sometimes  men  will 
bet  on  this  game  the  last  things  they  own,  even 
down  to  the  clothes  they  wear. 

Mr.  Barrows,  who  has  described  the  game  of 
peon  tells  of  the  bird  dances  of  the  Coahuillas. 
These  Indians  highly  regard  certain  birds.  Of 
all,  the  eagle  is  chief.  In  the  eagle  dance  the 
dancer  wears  a  breech-clout ;  his  face,  body,  and 
limbs  are  painted  in  red,  black,  and  white ;  his 


206 


AMERICAN   INDIANS. 


dance  skirt  and  dance  bonnet  are  made  of  eagle 
feathers.  In  his  dancing  and  whirling  he  imitates 
the  circling  and  movements  of  the  eagle.  At 
times  he  whirls  about  the  great  circle  of  spectators 
so  rapidly  that  his  feather  skirt  stands  up  straight 
below  his  arms.  The  music  of  this  dance  is  so 
old  that  the  words  are  not  understood  even  by 
the  singers. 

The  story  of  the  Missions  in  California  is  a  most 


MISSION   OF  SANTA  BARBARA,  CALIFORNIA.      (FROM   PHOTOGRAPH.) 

interesting  one.  You  remember  that  California 
was  a  part  of  New  Spain ;  when  Mexico  rebelled 
against  Spain  and  gained  her  independence,  Cali 
fornia  was  a  part  of  the  new  republic.  The 
Spanish  government  gave  California  over  to  the 
Jesuits  to  develope.  They  took  possession  in 
1697  and  built  a  Mission  at  San  Dionisio,  in 
Lower  California.  By  1745,  they  had  fourteen 
Missions  established,  all  in  what  is  now  Lower 
California.  The  Jesuits  gave  way  to  the  Fran- 


INDIANS   OF  CALIFORNIA.  2O; 

ciscan  monks,  and  these  began  in  1769  their  first 
Mission  in  California  proper,  at  San  Diego.  One 
after  another  was  added,  until,  in  1823,  there  were 
twenty-one  Franciscan  Missions,  stretching  from 
San  Diego  to  San  Francisco.  Each  mission  had 
a  piece  of  ground  fifteen  miles  square.  The 
center  of  the  Mission  was  the  church,  with  clois 
ters  where  the  monks  lived.  The  houses  of  the 
Indian  converts  —  which  were  little  huts  —  were 
grouped  together  about  the  church,  arranged  in 
rows.  Unmarried  men  were  housed  in  a  separate 
building  or  buildings,  as  were  young  women 
also.  During  the  sixty-five  years  of  these  Mis 
sions  about  seventy-nine  thousand  converts  were 
made.  Every  one  at  these  Missions  was  busy. 
The  men  kept  the  flocks  and  herds,  sheared  the 
sheep,  and  cared  for  the  fields  and  vines.  Women 
cared  for  the  houses  and  the  church.  There  was 
spinning,  weaving,  leather  work,  and  plenty  else 
to  be  done.  Still  the  Indians  were  not  hard 
worked,  and  they  ought  to  have  been  happy. 
Their  time  was  regularly  planned  out  for  them. 
At  sunrise  all  rose  and  went  to  mass ;  soon  after 
mass  breakfast  was  ready  and  sent  to  the  houses 
in  baskets;  then  every  one  worked.  At  noon 
dinner  was  sent  around  again  from  house  to 
house ;  then  came  the  afternoon  work.  After 
evening  mass,  there  was  a  supper  of  sweet  gruel. 
There  was  a  good  deal  of  time  left  after  the 
services  and  work  were  through.  The  monks 
allowed  the  Indians  to  keep  up  their  native  dances 


208  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

and  amusements  so  far  as  they  believed  them 
harmless. 

Some  persons  seem  to  think  that  the  monks 
made  slaves  of  the  Indians.  Rather  they  consid 
ered  them  children,  who  needed  oversight,  direc 
tion,  and  sometimes  punishment.  However,  the 
Indians  were  probably  better  dressed  and  housed 
and  fed  than  ever  before,  and,  perhaps,  happier. 
But  the  Missions  are  now  past.  Their  twenty-one 
old  churches  still  stand,  —  our  most  interesting 
historical  relics,  —  but  the  Indian  converts  have 
scattered,  and  in  time  they  will  forget,  if  they 
have  not  already  forgotten,  that  they  or  their 
people  were  ever  Mission  Indians. 


XXXI. 

THE   AZTECS. 

WHEN  the  Spaniards  reached  Mexico,  that 
country  was  filled  with  Indians  belonging  to 
many  different  tribes.  These  differed  in  lan 
guage  and  in  customs.  Perhaps  the  most  power 
ful  and  warlike  tribe  was  that  of  the  Aztecs,  who 
lived  in  the  central  high  table-land,  with  a  chief 
city  named  Tenochtitlan.  This  city,  occupying 
the  same  site  as  the  present  city  of  Mexico,  was 
situated  upon  the  shores  of,  and  partly  within,  the 
lake  of  Texcoco.  The  lake  lay  in  a  beautiful  val 
ley  which  was  occupied  not  only  by  the  Aztecs, 
but  also  by  a  number  of  other  tribes  related  to 


THE  AZTECS.  20$ 

them  in  speech.  Among  these  tribes  were  the 
Acolhuas,  with  their  chief  city  of  Texcoco,  and 
the  Tecpanecans,  whose  chief  city  was  Tlacopan. 

These  three  tribes  spoke  about  the  same  lan 
guage,  and,  after  a  great  deal  of  quarreling  among 
themselves,  they  united  in  a  league  or  confederacy 
something  like  that  of  the  Iroquois.  Together, 
they  were  so  strong  that  they  carried  on  success 
ful  war  against  their  neighbors.  Whpn  they  con 
quered  a  tribe,  they  did  not  take  its  land  away 
nor  interfere  with  its  government,  but  compelled 
the  people  to  pay  an  annual  tribute  to  the  con 
federacy.  At  the  head  of  the  confederacy  was  a 
great  war-chief,  who  was  called  by  the  title  of  the 
Chief  of  Men.  When  Cortez  conquered  Mexico, 
the  name  of  this  "  Chief  of  Men  "  was  Montezuma. 

The  Aztecs  raised  crops  of  corn,  beans,  squashes, 
and  chili  peppers.  Still  they  got  a  considerable 
amount  of  food  from  hunting,  and  they  knew  how 
to  make  snares  and  traps  for  capturing  animals. 
Their  lake  used  to  be  covered  with  ducks,  and  to 
capture  these  they  employed  a  clever  trick.  Cal 
abashes  are  large  gourds.  The  Aztec  hunters 
left  calabashes  floating  at  places  where  ducks 
were  plenty  so  that  the  birds  should  be  used  to 
seeing  them,  and  pay  no  attention  to  them.  When 
a  man  wished  to  catch  ducks,  he  placed  a  big  cal 
abash  over  his  head,  and  waded  cautiously  out 
into  the  water  until  it  was  just  deep  enough  for  it 
to  look  as  if  his  calabash  were  floating.  Little 
by  little,  he  moved  over  toward  the  swimming 


210  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

ducks,  and,  when  among  them,  he  seized  one  by 
the  legs  and  dragged  it  under  water;  then  another, 
and  another,  and  so  on.  Ducks  were  not  the  only 
food  taken  from  the  lake.  The  scum  or  dirt  float 
ing  on  the  water  was  skimmed  off,  and  pressed 
into  cakes ;  the  eggs  of  a  fly,  which  were  laid  in 
bunches  on  the  rushes,  near,  or  in  the  water,  were 
gathered  and  eaten.  These  eggs  are  still  a  favor 
ite  food  with  modern  Mexicans. 

The  Aztecs  knew  how  to  spin  and  weave. 
They  had  cotton,  and  they  also  had  a  fine,  stout 
fiber  from  the  maguey  plant.  From  these  they 
made  good  cloths  which  they  sometimes  dyed  in 
bright  colors.  The  dress  of  the  men  consisted  of 
a  sort  of  blanket  or  cloak  —  worn  knotted  over 
one  shoulder — and  the  breech-clout.  The  women 
wore  a  skirt,  which  was  only  a  long  strip  of  cloth 
wrapped  around  the  body,  and  held  firmly  in  place 
by  a  belt;  they  also  wore  a  pretty  sleeveless  waist. 
Men  wore  sandals  on  the  feet,  but  usually  went 
bareheaded.  Great  officials,  however,  were  finely 
dressed,  and  one  might  tell  from  the  clothing 
what  official  he  met.  Men  often  wore  lip-stones. 
These  were  in  idea  like  the  lip-plugs  of  the  Haida 
women,  but  were  different  in  shape  and  material. 
Most  of  them  were  made  of  obsidian,  —  a  fine 
grained,  glassy,  black  mineral.  Their  shape  was 
that  of  a  little  stovepipe  hat.  The  brim  was 
inside  the  lip  and  prevented  the  stone  from  slip 
ping  out ;  the  crown  projected  from  the  hole  in 
the  lower  lip. 


THE  AZTECS.  211 

The  common  people  lived  in  huts  made  of  mud 
or  other  destructible  material ;  but  the.  buildings 
intended  for  the  government  and  for  religion  were 
sometimes  grand  affairs,  built  of  stone  and  cov 
ered  with  plaster.  This  plastering  was  sometimes 
white,  sometimes  red,  and  upon  it  were  at  times 
pictures  painted  in  brilliant  colors.  These  pic 
tures  generally  represented  warriors  ready  for 
battle,  or  priests  before  the  altar.  Temples  were 
usually  built  upon  flat-topped  pyramids.  These 
were  often  large,  and  were  terraced  on  one  or 
more  sides.  Sometimes  they  were  coated  with 
plaster.  Flights  of  steps,  or  sloping  paths,  led  to 
the  summit.  There  would  be  found  the  temple 
and  the  gods.  The  gods  of  the  Aztecs  were  like 
the  Aztecs  themselves,  bloodthirsty  and  cruel. 

In  war  the  Aztecs  used  clubs,  wooden  swords, 
bows  and  arrows,  spears  or  darts,  slings  and 
stones.  They  had  wooden  swords  with  broad, 
flat  blades,  grooved  along  the  sides;  into  these 
grooves  were  cemented  sharp  pieces  of  obsidian. 
These  were  fearful  weapons  until  dulled  or  broken 
by  use.  Spears  and  darts  were  often  thrown  with 
a  wooden  stick  or  hurler  called  an  atlatl.  Impor 
tant  warriors  carried  round  or  rectangular  shields 
upon  their  left  arms  to  ward  off  attack.  These 
shields  often  bore  patterns  worked  in  bright 
feathers.  Sometimes  the  whole  dress  of  warriors 
was  covered  with  feathers,  and  famous  braves 
wore  helmets  of  wood  on  their  heads,  from  which 
rose  great  masses  of  fine  feathers.  Often  war- 


212 


AMERICAN  INDIANS. 


riors  wore  a  sort  of  jacket  covering  the  upper 
part  of  the  body  and  reaching  the  knees.  This 
was  padded  thickly  with  cotton,  and  arrows  shot 
with  great  force  could  hardly  penetrate  it. 


CALENDAR  STONE.   (FROM  PHOTOGRAPH.) 

In  battle  the  Aztecs  did  not  desire  to  kill  the 
enemy,  but  preferred  to  capture  prisoners  to  sac 
rifice  to  the  gods.  When  a  man  was  captured 
he  was  very  well  treated  until  the  day  for  his  sac 
rifice  came.  He  was  taken  up  to  the  temple  on 
the  pyramid  and  thrown  on  his  back  upon  a  sacri- 


THE  AZTECS. 


213 


ficial  stone.  He  was  held  by  several  priests, 
while  the  high  priest,  with  a  knife  of  stone,  cut 
open  his  breast.  The  heart  was  torn  out,  and 
offered  to  the  gods  ;  some  other  parts  were  cut 
off  for  them  or  for  the  priests.  The  rest  of  the 
body  was  then  thrown  down  to  the  soldier  who 
had  captured  the  victim, 
and  who  waited  below. 
He  and  his  friends  bore  it 
away  and  ate  it,  or  parts 
of  it,  as  a  religious  duty. 
All  the  time  the  sacrifices 
were  being  made,  the  great 
drum  was  beaten.  It  made 
amournf  ul  noise  that  could 
be  heard  to  a  great  dis 
tance.  In  the  National 
Museum  in  the  city  of 
Mexico  is  a  great  carved 
stone  which  is  believed  by 
many  persons  to  be  one  of 
these  old  sacrificial  stones 
upon  which  victims  were 
sacrificed. 

In  the  same  museum  is  a  great  stone  idol.  It 
was  dug  up  about  a  hundred  years  ago  in  the 
central  square  of  the  city  of  Mexico.  It  probably 
stood  in  the  great  temple  of  the  old  Aztecs,  which 
was  totally  destroyed  by  Cortez  and  his  soldiers 
when  they  finally  captured  the  city  of  Tenoch- 
titlan.  What  an  ugly  thing  it  is  !  It  is  more 


STONE    IDOL:     MEXICO.      (FROM 
PHOTOGRAPH.) 


214  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

than  eight  feet  high  and  more  than  five  feet  across, 
but  is  cut  from  a  single  block  of  stone.  It  has 
a  head  in  front,  and  another  one  behind ;  they 
look  something  like  serpent  heads.  While  the 
general  form  of  this  great  idol  is  human,  it  has 
neither  the  feet  nor  hands  of  a  man.  The  skirt 
it  wears  is  made  of  an  intertwined  mass  of  rattle 
snakes.  A  human  skull  is  at  the  front  of  the 
belt.  Four  human  hands  apparently  severed  from 
their  bodies  are  displayed  upon  the  chest.  This 
is  only  one  of  many  curious  and  dreadful  Aztec 
gods. 

It  would  take  a  book  larger  than  this  to  de 
scribe  the  Aztecs  properly.  It  would  take  another 
to  describe  the  conquest  of  Mexico  by  the  Span 
iards.  Cortez  had  only  a  handful  of  men  to  fight 
against  many  thousands.  But  he  had  guns, 
powder,  and  horses,  all  of  which  were  unknown 
before  to  the  Aztecs  and  which  they  greatly 
feared.  Sometime  you  must  read  Bernal  Diaz  del 
Castillo's  story  of  the  Conquest.  He  was  one  of 
Cortez's  soldiers.  He  tells  us  that  he  was  present 
in  one  hundred  and  nineteen  battles  and  engage 
ments.  He  also  says :  "  Of  the  five  hundred  and 
fifty  soldiers,  who  left  the  island  of  Cuba  with 
Cortez,  at  the  moment  I  am  writing  this  history 
in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight,  no  more  than  five  are  living,  the  rest  having 
been  killed  in  the  wars,  sacrificed  to  idols,  or  died 
naturally." 


THE   MAYAS  AND  THE  RUINED   CITIES.  215 


XXXII. 

THE   MAYAS   AND   THE    RUINED   CITIES   OF 
YUCATAN   AND    CENTRAL  AMERICA. 

OF  all  North  American  tribes  the  Mayas  were 
perhaps  the  most  advanced  in  culture,  the  nearest 
to  civilization.  They  lived  in  the  peninsula  of 
Yucatan  and  in  the  adjacent  states  of  Tabasco 
and  Chiapas  in  Mexico,  and  in  Honduras  and 
Guatemala  in  Central  America.  While  true 
Mayas  did  not  occupy  the  whole  of  this  district, 
it  was  practically  occupied  by  them  and  peoples 
speaking  languages  closely  related  to  theirs. 

There  are  many  Mayas  now  alive.  It  is  a 
common  but  serious  mistake  to  imagine  that 
Aztecs,  Mayas,  and  other  tribes  of  Mexico  and 
Central  America  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  are 
extinct.  Many  tribes  have  died  out ;  but  the 
famous  Aztecs  and  Mayas  are  still  numerous. 
The  Mayas  to-day  are  short,  well-built,  broad- 
shouldered  peoples  with  unusually  dark  skin. 
They  have  much  energy  and  are  notable  for  their 
independent  spirit.  Within  the  last  few  years 
they  have  given  the  Mexican  government  much 
trouble.  They  have  not  given  up  their  own  lan 
guage,  but  have  learned  to  write  it,  and  a  consid 
erable  number  of  books  and  papers  have  been 
printed  in  it.  They  retain  their  ancient  dress  to 
some  degree0  Almost  every  one  who  sees  the 


2l6  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

modern  Mayas  speaks  well  of  them,  —  as  clean, 
neat,  straightforward,  and  reliable. 

It  is  not  the  Mayan  peoples  of  to-day,  but  those 
of  the  past,  of  whom  we  desire  to  speak.  They 
were  the  best  builders  in  North  America,  and  the 
ruins  of  their  cities  testify  to  their  skill.  More 
than  fifty  years  ago,  John  L.  Stephens,  with  an 
artist  named  Catherwood,  traveled  in  Honduras, 
Guatamala,  Chiapas,  and  Yucatan.  Mr.  Stephens 
described  their  travels  and  the  ruins  they  explored, 
and  Mr.  Catherwood  drew  pictures  of  them. 
Americans  were  astonished  at  these  researches. 
These  travelers  visited  forty  ruins  of  ancient 
cities  in  Yucatan  alone.  Since  that  time  many 
other  travelers  have  been  there,  and  much  is 
known  of  Mayan  architecture. 

Most  of  the  ruins  appear  to  be  those  of  build 
ings  intended  for  governmental  or  religious  pur 
poses.  Few,  if  any,  were  houses  for  individuals. 
Probably  these  fine,  large  buildings  were  at  the 
center  of  towns,  the  dwelling  houses  of  which 
were  frail  huts  of  poles,  branches,  canes,  etc. 
These  have  disappeared,  leaving  no  sign  of  their 
former  existence.  All  through  Mexico,  to-day,  in 
Indian  towns,  the  only  permanent  constructions 
which  would  leave  ruins  are  the  church  and  the 
town  house.  Everything  else  is  frail  hut. 

Nearly  every  one  of  these  old  towns  presents 
some  peculiarity  of  interest.  We  can,  however, 
only  briefly  describe  three.  Palenque  appears  to 
be  one  of  the  oldest.  It  is  in  the  most  southern 


THE   MAYAS   AND   THE   RUINED   CITIES.  217 

state  of  Mexico,  Chiapas.  The  more  important 
ruins  are  those  of  the  "  palace  "  and  five  temples 
near  it.  The  buildings  were  all  raised  upon 
terrace  platforms ;  they  were  long  and  narrow ; 
the  walls  were  thick,  and  built  of  stones  and  mud, 
with  cement.  The  walls  were  faced  with  slabs  of 
stone,  often  carved  with  figures  of  gods,  hiero 
glyphic  characters,  etc.  Usually  two  long  corridors 
ran  lengthwise,  side  by  side,  through  the  building. 
These  open  upon  the  supporting  platform  by  a  line 
of  rectangular  doorways  of  uniform  size.  There 
were  no  true  arches,  but  the  corridors  had  pyram 
idal  arched  vaultings.  The  roof  went  up  from 
all  four  sides,  at  a  low  and  then  -at  a  sharper 
angle.  A  curious  crest  or  roof-comb  surmounted 
the  roof.  Much  plastering  was  used  in  these 
buildings ;  the  walls  were  sometimes  thickly  and 
smoothly  covered.  Stucco  figures  were  worked 
upon  some  of  the  walls.  One  temple,  called  the 
"  Temple  of  the  Beau  Relief,"  had  a  great  tablet 
of  stucco  work,  with  the  figure  of  a  man  seated 
upon  a  sort  of  rounded  stone  seat;  he  wore  a 
coiled  cap,  with  great  waving  plumes.  His  hands 
were  making  some  sort  of  signs ;  he  wore  a  neck 
lace  of  beads,  with  a  pendant  carved  with  a  human 
face.  The  stone  upon  which  he  sits  is  supported 
on  a  bench,  the  arms  at  the  ends  of  which  are 
lion  heads,  and  the  supports  of  which  are  four 
heavily  carved,  but  well-made,  lion  feet.  In  other 
temples  there  were  tablets  of  carved  stone.  Two 
of  these  are  famous.  One  represents  the  sun,  as 


2l8  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

a  human  face,  placed  upon  two  crossed  shafts; 
on  either  side  of  this  central  object  stands  a  pro 
file  figure,  one  of  which  appears  to  represent  a 
priest,  the  other  a  worshiper.  Both  stand  on 
curiously  bent  human  figures.  In  the  second 
tablet,  two  similar  figures  are  shown,  but  they 
stand  at  the  two  sides  of  a  cross,  upon  which 
perches  a  bird.  On  these  tablets  of  the  sun  and 
cross  are  many  curious  hieroglyphs  forming  an 
inscription. 

Copan  in  Honduras  is  another  famous  location 
of  ruins  left  by  some  Mayan  people.  The  most 
interesting  objects  there  are  great  stone  statues 
or  figures  with  stone  altars  before  them.  These 
statues  are  taller  than  a  man  and  are  cut  from 
single  blocks  of  stone.  They  differ  so  much  in 
face  and  dress  that  they  have  been  believed  by 
some  writers  to  be  portraits.  The  persons  ate 
usually  beautifully  dressed  and  ornamented.  They 
wear  beads,  pendants,  tassels,  belts,  ear  orna 
ments,  and  headdresses.  The  headdresses  are 
usually  composed  of  great  feathers.  The  sides 
and  sometimes  the  back  of  these  figures  are  cov 
ered  with  hieroglyphics  of  the  same  kind  as  those 
at  Palenque.  The  "  altars "  in  front  of  these 
stone  figures,  differ  in  form  and  size,  but  are  cut 
from  single  blocks  of  stone.  One  which  is 
nearly  square  has  at  the  sides  a  series  of  figures 
of  human  beings  sitting  cross-legged;  there  are 
four  of  these  on  each  side,  or  sixteen  in  all. 

At    Chicken    Itza,  the    buildings    are    remark- 


THE   MAYAS   AND  THE   RUINED   CITIES. 


219 


able  for  the  mass  of  carved  stone  work  with 
which  they  are  decorated,  outside  and  inside. 
Great  horrid  masks,  geometrical  patterns,  inter 
twined  snakes,  occur.  At  some  corners  of  build 
ings  are  curious  hook-like  projections,  which 
some  persons  have  thought  were  meant  to  repre- 


RUINED  BUILDING  AT  CHICKEN  ITZA.      (AFTER  STEPHENS.) 

sent  elephant  trunks.  Mr.  Holmes  describes 
carefully  carved  pillars  resting  upon  gigantic 
snake-head  carvings.  One  room  in  the  "  Temple 
of  the  Tigers  "  has  the  inside  wall  composed  of 
blocks  of  stone,  each  of  which  is  sculptured.  The 
carvings  represent  persons  richly  dressed.  When 


220  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

the  building  was  first  made,  these  figures  were 
brightly  painted  and  traces  of  the  colors  still 
remain. 

We  can  tell  a  good  deal  about  the  lives  of  the 
builders  of  these  old  buildings  from  a  study  of  the 
figures  and  carvings.  These  show  their  dress  and 
modes  of  worship.  The  ruins  themselves  show 
how  they  built.  Figures  on  tablets  at  Palenque 
show  that  they  changed  their  head  forms  by  ban 
daging  like  some  tribes  of  whom  we  know. 

At  Lorillard  City,  ruins  explored  by  Mr.  Char- 
nay,  are  some  curious  figures.  Among  them  one 
represents  a  person  kneeling,  with  his  tongue  out, 
and  a  cord  passed  through  a  -hole  in  it.  The  old 
Mayas  really  used  to  torture  themselves  this  way 
to  please  their  gods.  They  pierced  their  tongues 
and  passed  a  rough  cord  through  the  hole,  and 
drew  it  back  and  forward. 

No  one  can  read  the  characters  on  the  tablets 
of  Palenque  and  the  stone  figures  at  Copan.  Sim 
ilar  characters  occur  at  other  ruins.  At  Tikal 
some  were  cut  upon  beautiful  wooden  panels. 
They  were  carved  on  greenstone  ornaments, 
scratched  upon  shells,  and  painted  upon  pottery, 
There  were  plenty  of  books  among  the  Mayas, 
Some  of  these  still  exist,  and  four  have  been  quite 
carefully  studied.  They  contain  many  quaint  pic 
tures  of  priests,  gods,  worshipers,  etc.  They  also 
contain  many  numbers  and  day  names.  There 
are  also  in  them  many  of  the  same  strange  hiero 
glyphs,  already  mentioned.  These  are  called 


31  a  p    S  h  o  \v  i  n  s 

INDIAN  RESERVATIONS 


CONCLUSION.  221 

"  calculiform  "  or  "  pebble-shaped  "  characters,  be 
cause  they  present  a  generally  roundish  outline, 
as  of  a  pebble  cut  through.  It  is  plain  that  they 
were  at  first  simply  pictures.  Some  of  them,  no 
doubt,  are  still  simple  pictures  of  ideas;  others 
convey  ideas  different  from  those  at  first  pictured  ; 
many  can  no  longer  be  seen  to  be  pictures  at  all ; 
some,  perhaps,  represent  sounds,  and  are  not  now 
pictures  for  ideas.  It  is  possible,  in  a  general 
way,  to  make  out  something  of  the  sense  of  parts 
of  Mayan  books  and  inscriptions,  but  it  is  quite 
likely  that  they  will  never  be  exactly  read  as  we 
read  our  own  written  books. 


XXXIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

AN  old  Pani,  in  speaking  of  what  was  perhaps 
the  first  official  visit  by  whites  to  his  tribe,  said: 

"  I  heard  that  long  ago  there  was  a  time  when 
there  were  no  people  in  this  country  except 
Indians.  After  that  the  people  began  to  hear  of 
men  with  white  skins  ;  they  had  been  seen  far  to 
the  east.  Before  I  was  born  they  came  to  our 
country  and  visited  us.  The  man  who  came  was 
from  the  Government.  He  wanted  to  make  a 
treaty  with  us,  and  to  give  us  presents  —  blankets 
and  guns  and  flint  and  steel  and  knives. 

"  The  head  chief  told  him  that  we  needed  none 


222  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

of  those  things.  He  said,  '  We  have  our  buffalo 
and  our  corn.  These  things  the  Ruler  gave  us, 
and  they  are  all  that  we  need.  See  this  robe. 
This  keeps  me  warm  in  winter.  I  need  no  blanket.' 

"  The  white  men  had  with  them  some  cattle, 
and  the  chief  said,  '  Lead  out  a  heifer  here  on 
the  prairie.'  They  led  her  out,  and  the  chief, 
stepping  up  to  her,  shot  her  through  behind  the 
shoulder  with  his  arrow,  and  she  fell  down  and 
died.  Then  the  chief  said,  '  Will  not  my  arrow 
kill  ?  I  do  not  need  your  guns.'  Then  he  took 
his  stone  knife  and  skinned  the  heifer,  and  cut  off 
a  piece  of  fat  meat.  When  he  had  done  this,  he 
said,  '  Why  should  I  take  your  knives  ?  The 
Ruler  has  given  me  something  to  cut  with.' 

"  Then,  taking  the  firesticks,  he  kindled  a  fire 
to  roast  the  meat ;  and  while  it  was  cooking,  he 
spoke  and  said,  '  You  see,  my  brother,  that  the 
Ruler  has  given  us  all  that  we  need :  the  buffalo 
for  food  and  clothing ;  the  corn  to  eat  with  our 
dried  meat ;  bows,  arrows,  knives,  and  hoes  —  all 
the  implements  that  we  need  for  killing  meat  or 
for  cultivating  the  ground.  Now  go  back  to  the 
country  from  whence  you  came.  We  do  not  want 
your  presents,  and  we  do  not  want  you  to  come 
into  our  country.' " 

And  the  old  chief  was  right.  The  Indians 
were  supplied  with  all  they  needed ;  what  the 
white  man  offered  them  was  unnecessary,  often  it 
was  harmful.  They  were  happy  and  contented, 
They  were  doing  very  well  in  their  own  way. 


CONCLUSION.  223 

But  the  old  times  are  gone.  To-day  the  Indians 
are  few  in  number,  and  they  are  growing  fewer. 
There  are  many  ingenious  arguments  to  prove 
the  contrary.  Three  facts,  however,  are  perfectly 
plain.  First,  there  were  whole  tribes  that  have 
disappeared.  The  Beothuks  and  the  Natchez 
are  but  two  tribes  which  are  gone  ;  such  tribes 
may  be  numbered  by  scores.  Their  names  are 
on  record ;  their  old  locations  are  known ;  some 
times  we  have  some  knowledge  of  their  customs 
and  ways,  but  they  are  dead.  Secondly,  many 
tribes  are  rapidly  dwindling.  The  Pani,  between 
1885  and  1889,  a  period  of  five  years,  fell  from 
one  thousand  and  forty-five  to  eight  hundred  and 
sixty-nine.  When  I  knew  the  Tonkaways  in  the 
Indian  Territory,  they  numbered  but  thirty-five 
persons,  and  had  been  disappearing  at  the  rate  of 
one-third  of  the  population  in  eight  years.  The 
Haidas  of  Queen  Charlotte  Islands  are  becom 
ing  fewer.  Dawson  says :  "  One  intelligent  man 
told  me  that  he  could  remember  the  time  — 
which  by  his  age  could  not  have  been  more  than 
thirty  years  ago  —  when  there  was  not  room- to 
launch  all  the  canoes  of  the  village  in  a  single 
row,  the  whole  length  of  the  beach,  when  the 
people  set  out  on  one  of  their  periodical  trading 
expeditions  to  Port  Simpson.  The  beach  is  about 
half  a  mile  long,  and  there  must  have  been  from 
five  to  eight  persons  in  each  canoe."  There  are 
to-day  less  than  five  hundred  people  in  that  village, 
Skidgate.  Thirdly,  there  are  some  tribes,  like 


224  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

the  Cherokees  and  Sioux,  which  are  large,  pros 
perous,  and  wealthy.  It  is  a  money  advantage  to 
belong  to  such  tribes,  and  a  great  many  men  who 
should  be  considered  white  men  are  counted  with 
such  tribes  and  help  to  make  them  look  as  if  they 
were  not  dwindling.  It  is  quite  certain  that  true 
Indians  of  pure  blood  are  rapidly  diminishing. 

The  whites  have  brought  them  whisky,  which 
has  killed  thousands.  They  have  brought  vices 
and  diseases  which  have  swept  off  thousands 
more.  They  have  put  an  end  to  the  old  free, 
open-air  life.  They  have  taught  them  unwhole 
some  means  of  cookery  that  cause  scrofula  and 
other  diseases.  They  have  taught  them  to  build 
close,  stuffy  houses,  which  cause  consumption 
which  is  fearfully  destructive  to  the  Indians.  It 
seems  to  make  little  difference  whether  it  is  an 
open  foe  with  the  whisky  bottle,  or  an  apparent 
friend  with  money  for  a  "civilized  home  "  ("  a  nice, 
comfortable,  little  house  ")  who  comes ;  the  white 
man's  touch  destroys  the  Indians. 

Whether  the  Indians  really  die  out  or  not,  their 
old  life  will  surely  disappear.  One  after  another 
many  of  the  things  we  have  here  read  of  together 
have,  disappeared.  Others  will  soon  die  out.  The 
houses,  dress,  weapons,  games,  dances,  ceremo 
nials,  will  go.  It  is  only  a  matter  of  time.  But 
they  ought  always  to  be  interesting  to  us  as 
Americans. 

The  condition  of  the  Indians  to-day  is  a  sad 
and  pathetic  one.  They  may  all  echo  the  words 


CONCLUSION.  225 

of  Red  Jacket.  They  have  been  crowded  upon 
by  the  white  man's  hunger  for  land  until  now 
they  have  little  left.  Not  long  ago  they  held  the 
continent ;  to-day  they  are  almost  prisoners  upon 
a  few  patches  of  land  called  reservations.  They 
are  secure  of  these  only  until  the  white  man 
wants  them.  Time  after  time  Indians  have  given 
up  their  lands  and  removed  to  distant  places  be 
cause  their  old  homes  were  wanted  by  white  men. 
Every  time  they  have  been  promised  that  in  their 
new  homes  they  should  be  undisturbed.  Yet 
whenever,  in  their  onward  march,  white  men  came 
to  be  neighbors,  the  old  troubles  came  again. 
Encroachment,  aggression,  then  perhaps  open 
warfare,  and  then,  another  removal.  Helen  Hunt 
Jackson's  Century  of  Dishonor  tells  only  a  part 
of  the  story.  Every  boy  and  girl  in  the  United 
States  should  read  it. 

Here  on  a  map  you  see  the  present  location  of 
most  of  the  Indians.  The  reservations  vary  in 
size  and  in  quality.  Some  of  them  have  little 
that  can  attract  the  whites.  In  these  the  Indians 
may  be  left  in  peace.  The  present  idea  of  what 
to  do  with  the  Indians  is  shown  by  the  Dawes 
Bill.  This  is  apparently  a  benevolent  scheme  for 
happily  settling  the  Indians  on  individual  farms. 
Imagine  a  reservation  belonging  to  some  tribe. 
A  part  of  the  reservation  is  cultivated  by  the 
more  progressive  Indians.  The  rest  is  not  used 
except  perhaps  for  hunting  or  fishing,  or  wander 
ing  over.  The  whole  belongs  to  the  tribe  abso- 


226  AMERICAN   INDIANS. 

lutely,  and  we  have  promised  that  it  shall  never 
be  taken  away  from  them.  But  now  the  Dawes 
Bill  is  passed.  It  is  said,  a  little  farm  apiece  is 
all  that  is  necessary  for  these  Indians.  It  would 
be  much  better  to  give  each  of  them  just  what 
he  needs  and  then  to  buy  the  balance  of  the 
land  (cheap  of  course),  and  give  it  to  white  people. 
Whenever  the  Indians  agree  to  it,  we  will  divide 
up  the  land,  allot  each  his  land  in  severalty,  and 
the  Indian  problem  is  solved.  All  this  sounds 
very  well,  but  it  is  enough  to  make  one's  heart 
bleed  to  see  the  way  in  which  it  is  carried  out. 
Many  times  the  Indians  do  not  wish  to  take  their 
land  in  severalty.  Certainly  they  ought  not  to 
be  forced  to  do  so  against  their  will.  Yet  com 
mission  after  commission,  special  agent  after 
special  agent,  is  sent  to  tribes  to  persuade,  beg, 
and  harass  them  into  accepting  allotment.  Many 
times  half  threats  are  made ;  hints  are  vaguely 
thrown  out  as  to  what  may  happen  if  they  don't 
take  their  little  farms  and  sell  the  balance  of  their 
reservation.  Surveyors  are  hired  to  go  and  sur 
vey  within  the  reservation  so  as  to  make  the 
Indians  think  their  land  will  be  taken  away  any 
way.  At  last  the  poor  harassed  tribe  yields.  The 
men  take  their  farms ;  they  give  up  the  balance 
of  their  land  for  a  small  price.  Those  who  were 
industrious  before  take  care  of  their  land  as  they 
did  before,  no  better,  no  worse.  But  the  unpro- 
gressive  Indian  is  not  made  industrious.  He 
rents  his  land  to  some  white  man  and  spends  his 


CONCLUSION.  227 

money  in  strong  drink.  As  long  as  they  were 
on  the  reservation  there  were  laws  to  protect 
them  from  bad  neighbors  and  whisky.  But  on 
his  little  farm  the  Indian  may  be  next  door  to 
bad  white  men  who  sell  him  liquor  whenever  it 
is  to  their  advantage. 

There  are  many  persons  who  think  that  mis 
sions  and  schools  will  make  the  Indians  good  and 
happy.  So  far  as  schools  are  concerned  there 
are  many.  Some  of  them  are  simple  day  schools 
at  the  agency.  Others  are  boarding  schools  still 
at  the  agency.  Still  others  are  great  industrial 
schools  at  a  town  more  or  less  distant.  Of 
all  these  schools  we  think  that  those  at  the 
agency  are  the  best  kind.  Such  schools,  well 
managed  by  thoroughly  good  teachers,  ought  to 
do  the  most  good.  They  ought  not  to  try  to 
teach  high  branches,  but  to  speak,  read,  and  write 
English,  a  little  arithmetic  and  a  little  knowledge 
of  the  great  world.  They  ought  to  be  indus 
trial  schools  to  the  extent  of  teaching  handiness 
in  all  the  little  things  that  need  to  be  done  about 
the  house  or  the  farm.  They  ought  to  aim  to 
reach  the  parents  and  to  interest  them  in  their 
work.  Progress  in  such  schools  is  slow,  but  it  is 
better  for  all  to  make  a  little  progress,  than  for  a 
few  to  get  a  great  mass  of  information  that  they 
cannot  use. 


GLOSSARY. 


OF  INDIAN  AND  OTHER  FOREIGN  WORDS  WHICH  MAY  NOT 
READILY  BE  FOUND  IN  THE  ENGLISH  DICTIONARY. 

The  spellings  of  Indian  words  vary  much  with  different  authors : 
in  the  following  list  the  word  as  spelled  in  this  book  is  first  given, 
then  the  pronunciation,  then  the  number  of  a  page  on  which  the 
meaning  of  the  word  will  be  found. 

Single  and  combined  consonants  have  their  usual  English 
sounds  except  c,  which  is  equal  to  sh ;  s  is  always  as  in  so ;  final 
s  as  in  gem^  is  represented  by  z\  soft  £-  is  represented  by/. 

Vowels  are  as  follows  :  — 


a  as  in  fat 
a      "      mane 
a 

fi 


«      father 
"      talk 


e  as  in  meat 

i       "  pin 

I       "  pine 

o      "  not 


0  as  in  note 
u      "      tub 

u      "      oo  in  spoon 

01  "      boil 


met 


Abalone  [a-ba-lon],  77. 
Acolhua  [a-kdl'-wa],  209. 
Adobe*  [a-do'-ba],  163. 
Algonkin[al-g6n-kin],  108. 
Alibamu  [al-i-ba-mu],  128. 
Apache  [a-pa-cha],  39. 
Apalache  [a-pa-la-cha],  128. 
Arapaho  [a-ra-pa-ho],  60. 
Arickara  [a-ri-ka-ra] ,  64. 
Assinaboin,  [a-si-na-boin] ,  57. 
Athapaskan  [ath'-a-pa's-kan],  3. 
Atlatl  [at-la-tl],  211. 
Atotarho  [at-6-ta'r-ho],  116. 


Aztec  [az-tek],  208. 
Beothuk  [be-6''-thuk] ,  223. 
Burro  [bu'r-o],  91. 
Busk  [busk],  133. 
Caddo  [ka-do],  134. 
Canon  [kan-yun],  176. 
Cassine  [kas-sen],  133. 
Catolsta  [ka-to'1-sta],  144. 
Cayuga  [ka-yu-ga],  116. 
Chelley  [ca],  176. 
Cherokee  [che-ro-ke],  140. 
Cheyenne  [cT'-en],  60. 
Chiapas  [che-a-pas],  215. 


229 


230 


GLOSSARY. 


Chicasaw  [chi-ka'-sa],  128. 
Chichen  Itza  [che'-chen  e'-tsu], 

218. 

Chilkat  [chil-kat],  21. 
Chinook  [chi-nu'k],  182. 
Choctaw  [ch6k-ta],  128. 
Chunkey  [chun-ka],  132. 
Coahuilla  [ko-we'-ya] ,  201. 
Cochiti  [ko'-che-te'J,  178. 
Comanche  [ko-man-che],  94. 
Copan  [ko-pan'J,  218. 
Corral  [ko-ral],  165. 
Coup  [ku],  42. 
Cree  [kre],  108. 
Creek  [krek],  128. 
Estufa  [es-tu-fa],  165. 
Frijoles  [fre-ho-laz],  178  (means 

beans) . 

Glooskap  [glos-kap],  32. 
Haida  [hi-da],  182. 
Haliotis  [ha-le-6-tis],  77. 
Hano  [ha-nd],  169. 
Hayenwatha  [hi-en-wa-tha],  116. 
Hayoneta  [hoi-a-na-ta],  145. 
Hupa  [hu'-pa],  76. 
Itztapalapa  [et's-ta-pa-la'-pa],  55. 
Kiowa  [ki'-o-wa],  60. 
Kisi  [ke'-se],  170. 
Kwakiutl  [kwa'-ke-u'tl] ,  182. 
Lenape  [le-na'-pa],  109. 
Lipan  [le-pan'],  56. 
Maguey  [ma-ga'],  71. 
Mandan  [man'-dan],  159. 
Maya  [mi'-ya],  215. 
Mendoza  [men-do'-za],  73. 
Mesa  [ma'-sa],  161. 
Mescal  [mes-cal'],  204. 
Metate  [ma-tav-ta],  180. 


Micam  [me'-cam],  66. 
Miko  [me'-ko],  131. 
Moki  [mo'-ke],  168. 
M'teoulin  [m'ta-u'-lin] ,  84. 
Muskoki  [mus-ko'-ke],  128. 
Nanabush  [na'-na'-buc],  112. 
Navajo  [na'va'-ho],  21. 
Neeskotting  [ne'-sko-ting] ,  51. 
Nekilstlas  [ne-kils'-tlas] ,  189. 
Ojibwa  [6-jib'-wa],  108. 
Oneida  [6-ni'-daJ,  116. 
Onondaga  [on'-on-da'-ga],  116. 
Oolachen  [u'-la-chen],  191. 
Oraibe  [o-rai'-ba],  169. 
Otoe  [o'-to],  92. 
Pani  [pa-ne'j,  60. 
Pemmican  [pe'-mi-kan],  57. 
Pima  [pe'-ma],  59. 
Plaza  [pla'-za],  171. 
Ponka  [pon'-ka],  96. 
Pueblo  [pweb'-lo],  161. 
Puskita  [pus'-ke-ta],  133. 
Rito  [re'-to],  178  (means  brook) 
Sac  [sac],  54. 
Santee  [San-te'],  155. 
Saponie  [sa'-po-na],  119. 
Seneca  [se'-ne-ka],  116. 
Senel  [sa'-nel],  95. 
Sequoyah  [se-kwoi'-ya],  146. 
Shawnee  [ca-ne'J,  107. 
Shenanjie  [ce-nan'-ja],  126. 
Shonko  [con'-ko],  151. 
Shoshone  [co'-co-na'J,  169. 
Sioux  [su],  155. 
Sipapu  [se-pa'-pu],  171. 
Sisseton  [si'-se-ton],  155. 
Skil  [skel],  187. 
Skowl  [skol],  197. 


GLOSSARY. 


231 


Succotash  [su'-ko-tac],  56. 
Tabasco  [ta-bas'-ko],  215. 
Taos  [tows],  162. 
Tecpanecan       [tek'-pan-e'-kan], 

209. 
Tenochtitlan    [te-noch'-te-tlan'j , 

208, 

Teton  [te'-ton],  155. 
Texcoco  [tec-ko'-ko],  208. 
Tikal  [te'-kal],  220. 
Tirawa  [te-ra'-wa],  136. 
Tlacopan  [tla-ko'-pan] ,  209. 
Tlingit  [flin'-git],  189. 
Tonkaway  [ton'-ka-wa] ,  134. 
Totem  [to'-tem],  98. 
Tshimpshian  [tcim'-ce-an],  182. 
Tuscarora  [tus'-ka-ro'-ra],  118. 
Tutelo  [tu'-tu-Io],  119. 


Umane  [u-ma'-na].  156. 
Uncpapa  [unk-pa'-pa],  151. 
Ute  [yut],  109. 
Wahpeton  [wa'-pe-ton],  155. 
Wakantanka      [wa'-kan-tan'-kaj^ 

156. 
Walam  Olum   [wa'-lam  ol'-uni], 

in. 

Walpi  [waT-pe],  169. 
Wampampeog       [wam'-pam-pe- 

og],  74- 

Wichita  [wi'-chi-ta],  134. 
Winnebago  [wi'-ne-ba'-go],  155, 
Yanktonnais  [yank'-ton-a],  155. 
Yetl  [yatl],  189. 
Zizania  [ze-za-ne-a],  109. 
Zuni  [zun'-ye],  89. 


INDEX. 


[Indian  words  are  in  italics;  tribal  names  in  small  capitals.] 


Abalone,  77. 

ACOLHUA,  209. 

Acorns,  202,  203. 

Adams  Co.,  Ohio,  101. 

Adobe,  163, 

Adoption,  126. 

Agriculture,  4,  136,  164,  209. 

Alaska,  21,  95,  181,  195. 

Algonkin,  3,  53,  66,  74,  83,  108  et 
set].,  116;  houses,  8  et  see].;  story, 
32;  torture,  45;  villages,  9. 

Algonkin  words,  108. 

Algonquian,  3. 

ALIBAMU,  128. 

Altar  Mounds,  100. 

Altars,  218. 

Ambuscade,  41. 

Animal  names,  198. 

Antelope  society,  171,  172,  175. 

APACHE,  39,  59,  87. 

APALACHE,  128. 

ARAPAHO,  60;  sign  for,  64. 

Architecture,  216;   of  Pueblos,   162. 

ARICKARA,  64. 

Arizona,  161,  168,  175. 

Armor,  quilted,  212. 

Arrow  racing,  144. 

Arrows,  46,  49. 

ASSINABOIN,  57,  60,  155. 

Athapaskan,  3. 

Atlantic  Ocean,  90,  108. 

Atlatl — or  spear-thrower,  211. 

Atotarho,  116  et  seq. 


AZTEC,  39,  55,  87,  129,  208  et  seq., 
215;    books,  71;   picture  writing, 


Baby,  22  ct  seq.,  182. 
Badger,  sign  for,  61. 
Ball,  145  et  seq.;  game,  29,  34; 

sticks,  29. 

Bandelier,  A.  P.,  181. 
Barrows,  D.  P.,  205. 
Basket  making,  144. 
Baskets,  27,  203. 

Beads,  18;   shell,  76;   turquoise,  78. 
Bead-  work,  16,  17,  18,  25. 
Bear  —  Story  of  Hunter  and,  198. 
Beaver,  sign  for,  62. 
Beloved  men,  131. 
Belts,  20,  164. 
BEOTHUK,  223. 
Bernal  Diaz  del  Castillo,  214. 
Berries,  188. 
Biography,  picture,  66. 
Birch-bark,     24,     53;     letter,     59; 

records,  66. 
Bird  Dances,  205. 
Black  drink,  133. 
BLACK-FOOT,  108,  109,   112  et  seq., 

132;    sign   for,   64;     story,    35  el 

seq. 

Blankets,  16,  20,  21,  78,  186,  210. 
Blowgun,  50. 
Boas,  F.,  2,  6,  195. 
Bones,  buried,  93,  105. 


233 


234 


INDEX. 


Books,  71,  220. 

Bonnets  —  feather,  44. 

Bottles  of  seaweed  stalk,  189. 

Bow  drill,  55. 

Bows,  49. 

Box  burial,  96. 

Boys  —  training  of,  129. 

Bread,  166,  167. 

Breech-clout,  15,  210. 

Bricks,  163. 

Brinton,  D.  G.,  108,  115. 

British  America,  108. 

British  Columbia,  21,  24,  79,  187. 

Brooch,  17. 

Brook  of  the  Beans,  178  et  seq. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  120. 

Buffalo,  sign  for,  63. 

Buffalo  dance,  48,  87. 

Buffalo  hunt,  46,  47,  135  et  scq. 

Bull-boat,  53. 

Burial,  92  et  scq.  ;  in  caves,  95. 

Burros,  91,  165. 

Bushotter,  G.,  159. 

Busk,  133  et  seq. 

CADDO,  134. 

Caddoan,  134. 

Calabashes,  209. 

Calculiform  characters,  221. 

Calendar,  Dakota,  67. 

California,  4,  76,  95,  201  et  seq.; 
baskets,  27;  cradle,  25;  dress, 
21;  houses,  1 1. 

Camp  circle,  14,  156. 

Canada,  32. 

Cannibalism,  213. 

Canoe  burial,  97. 

Canoes,  186;  birch-bark,  52;  dug 
out,  52. 

Canons,  176. 

Captives,  45. 

Cardinal  points,  89,  90. 

Carrying  babies,  27. 

Carrying  strap,  27. 


Carving,  185,  195,  217,  219,  220. 

Cassine,  133. 

Catherwood,  F.,  216. 

Catlin,  G.,  30,  147  et  seq. 

Catolsta,  old,  144. 

Cave  burial,  95. 

Cave  houses,  176,  177. 

CAYUGA,  2,  116,  118,  119. 

Cedar  bark,  21,  187,  188. 

Central  America,  71,  215. 

Century  of  Dishonor,  225. 

Chamberlain,  A.  F.,  195. 

Charles  V.,  72. 

Charms,  84. 

Charnay,  220. 

Chelley  River,  176. 

CHEROKEES,  30,  52,  84,  89, 107,  108, 

140  et  seq.,  224. 
CHEYENNE,  60,  69. 
Chiapas,  215,  216,  217. 
CHICASAW,  128. 
Chichen  Itza,  218. 
Chief  of  Men,  209. 
CHILKAT,  21. 
Chillicothe,  Ohio,  99. 
CHINOOK,  182  et  seq. 
CHOCTAW,  30,  128. 
Chunkey,  113,  132. 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  99. 
Clams,  1 88. 

Clark,  W.  P.,  41,  49,  64,  65. 
Cliff-dwellers,  54. 
Cliff-dwellings,  1 75  et  seq. 
Cliff-ruins,  176. 
Cloths,  1 80,  210. 
Clubs,  1 88. 

COAHUILLA,  201  et  seq. 
Coahuilla  Valley,  201. 
Cochiti,  44,  77,  178,  181. 
Coffins,  93. 
Coiled  baskets,  203. 
Colorado,  175. 
Columbia  River,  182. 
COMANCHE,  94;   sign  for,  64. 


INDEX. 


235 


Commemorative   posts,   195    et  seq., 

197. 

Companions  for  the  dead,  94. 
Condition  of  Indians,  223  et  seq. 
Confederacy,  117  et  seq,,  128,  209. 
Conjuring,  130,  145. 
Conquest  of  Mexico,  214. 
Cooking,  56. 
Copan,  218,  22O. 
Copper,  79. 
Coppers,  79. 
Coracle  (see  Bull-boat). 
Corpse:    displayed,   196;    treatment 

of,  92. 

Corral,  91,  165. 
Cortez,  209,  213,  214. 
Cotton,  210. 
Council:    tribal,    117;    confederacy, 

119. 

Council  house,  130,  131. 
Coup,  42. 
Cradle,  22,  183. 
Cram,  Rev.  Mr.,  120. 
Crazy,  sign  for,  64. 
Creation  legend,  112. 
CREE,  83,  108. 
CREEK,  108,  113,  128  et  seq. 
Cremation,  95,  196. 
Crooked  Hand,  138. 
Crow,  192. 

CROW,  49,  60 ;   sign  for,  64. 
Gushing,  F.  H.,  90,  162. 
Cycle  festival,  55. 

DAKOTA:     (see    also    Sioux)    155; 

tent,  12;   war  feathers,  43. 
Dakota  Calendar,  67. 
Dances:  85  et  seq,,  172;   bird,  205; 

buffalo,  87;    rain,  88;    scalp,  87; 

snake,   85,   88,   168  et  seq,;    sun, 

155  */;*?. 
Dancing,  32,  48. 
Davis,  E.  H.,  107. 
Dawes  Bill,  225  et  seq. 


Dawson,  G.  M.,  223. 

Daylight,  189,  190. 

Dayton,  Ohio,  99. 

Deaf-mutes,  61. 

Deans,  J.,  195. 

Death,  92;   posts,  195;   watch,  98. 

Decreasing  population,  135,  223. 

Deformation  of  the  head,  183. 

DELAWARE  (see  also  LENAPE)  108, 
126. 

Dentalium,  75. 

Descent  in  female  line,  198. 

Destroying  objects  for  the  dead,  95. 

Disease,  80,  82,  84,  224. 

Display:  of  corpse,  196;  of  prop 
erty,  196. 

Dog,  sign  for,  63. 

Dog,  The,  151^  seq. 

Dorsey,  J.  O.,  160. 

Dress,  14  ct  seq.,  169,  186,  210,  21 1; 
dancing,  87. 

Drum,  86,  90,  213. 

Drying  meat,  57. 

Duck  hunting,  209. 

Dug-outs,  52,  1 86. 

Eagle  dance,  205. 
Eastern  Cherokees,  143. 
Effigy  mounds,  102. 
Elephant-trunk  decoration,  219. 
El  Rito  de  los  Frijoles,  178  et  seq*, 

181. 

Elsie,  old,  56. 
Enclosures,  99. 
ERIE,  119. 
ESKIMO,  96. 

Estufa  (see  also  Kiva},  165,  170. 
Eyes,  22. 

Families,  198. 
Families  of  Language,  2 
Fast,  130,  133,  1 60. 
Feasts,  113. 
Feather-cloth,  180. 


236 


INDEX. 


Feather-on-the-head,  41. 

Feathers,  43,  211. 

Female  descent,  198. 

Fewkes,  J.  W.,  170,  175. 

Fibube,  17. 

Figures  —  stone,  218. 

Fire:  secured,  189,  190;  used,  186; 
drill,  55;  making,  53;  perpetual, 
131;  signals,  59;  sticks,  54;  for 
dead,  98. 

Fisherman  and  Raven,  story  of,  192. 

Fish  hooks,  188. 

Fishing,  50  et  seq.,  1 88;   devices,  51. 

Five  Nations,  188. 

FLATHEAD,  183;  sign  for,  64. 

Flint  and  steel,  53. 

Fly's  eggs,  210. 

Food  for  dead,  98. 

Foot  race,  171. 

Ft.  Du  Quesne,  1.26. 

Ft.  Stevenson,  153. 

Forward  Inlet,  76. 

Four  Bears,  153. 

Franciscans,  206. 

French  and  Indian  Wars,  123. 

Fresh  water  secured,  189. 

Friendship,  41. 

Furs,  1 86. 

Gambling,  28,  113,  132,  204. 

Game  drives,  48. 

Games,  28  et  seq.,  34,  113,  132,  144 

etseq.,  205. 
Gatschet,  A.  S.,  134. 
Gauntlet  running,  45. 
Gay  Head,  5 1 . 
Genesee  River,  126. 
Gens,  198. 
Georgia,  140,  141. 
Gestures,  calling  rain,  88. 
Glooskap,  32  et  seq. 
Gods,  211. 
Granaries,  202. 
Grass,  dresses  of,  21. 


Grave  posts,  95,  98,  195  et  seq. 

Graves,  92  et  seq. 

Great  house,  130. 

Great  Lakes,  108. 

Great  removal,  142  et  seq. 

Grinding  meal,  167. 

Grinnell,  G.  B.,  39,  112,  138. 

Guatemala,  215,  216. 

Guessing  games,  28. 

Guess,  or  Guest,  George,  146. 

Hadley,  L.,  65. 

Haida,  79,  82,  95,  96,  182  et  seq.,  223 

Hair,  182;   forehead,  22. 

Hair  fabrics,  180. 

Hale,  H.,  122. 

Halibut,  182,  1 88. 

Haliotis,  77. 

Hammock,  25. 

Hano,  169. 

Hat,  187. 

Hayenwatha,  116  ct  seq. 

Head  deformation,  182,  22O. 

Head-dress,  211. 

Helmet,  211. 

Hieroglyphics,  218,  220. 

Hoes,  136. 

Holmes,  W.  H.,  80,  219. 

Honduras,  215,  218. 

Hopeton,  99. 

Horn  bows,  49. 

Horses  —  stealing,  42. 

Hospitality,  5. 

Houses,  7  et  seq.,  184,  2O2,  211,  216; 

Pueblo,  162. 
House  circles,  105. 
Housetops,  life  on,  163. 
Hoyoneta,  145. 
Hudson  Bay  Co.,  79. 
Hudson  River,  115. 
Hunting,  46  et  seq.,  135  et  seq.,  2OQ; 

ducks,  209;   snakes,  170. 
HUPA,  76. 
HURON,  119. 


INDEX. 


237 


Hut  rings,  105. 
Hypnotism,  83. 

Idol,  213. 

Indian,  I. 

Indian  Territory,  143,  223. 

Initiation,  129. 

Iowa,  93,  1 06. 

IROQUOIS,  39,  53,  66,  74,  108,  115  et 

seq. ,129,  209;  ball  play,  29;  houses, 

7;  story,  32;  torture,  45. 
Itztapalapa,  55. 

Jacket,  1 6,  17. 

Jackson,  H.  H.,  147,  202,  225. 

Jemison,  Mary,  122  et  seq. 

Jemison,  T.,  122. 

Jesuits,  206. 

Journeys  of  George  Catlin,  148. 

Keeper  of  the  belts,  75. 

Kentucky,  95. 

Kilts,  20,  21. 

King  Philip,  74,  108. 

KIOWA,  60,  61. 

Kisi,  1 70  et  seq. 

KOSKIMO,  183. 

KWAKIUTL,  l82. 

Lacrosse,  29. 

Ladders,  163. 

Land  in  severalty,  225  et  seq. 

Languages,  2. 

Lapham,  I.  A.,  107. 

Leggings,  15,  17. 

Leland,  C.  G.,  38,  83. 

LENAPE,  108,  109  et  seq. 

Life:     of    cliff-dwellers,    etc.,    181; 

Mayan  peoples,  220. 
Li  PAN,  56,  134. 
Lip  piercing,  183. 
Lip  plug,  183,  210. 
Little  Bear,  151^  seq. 
Lone  Dog,  67,  69. 


Long  House,  7,  1 19. 
Lorillard  City,  220. 
Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  207. 
Los  Cerillos,  N.  M.,  77. 
Louisiana,  135. 
Lower  California,  206. 
Lummis,  C.  F.,  204. 

Magicians  (see  medicine  men). 

Maguey,  71,  210. 

Mallery,  G.,  65. 

Mancos  Canon,  1 76,  1 79. 

MANDAN,  90,  148,  153,  155,  159; 
house,  II;  bull-boat,  53. 

Manta,  169. 

Map,  3,  201,  225. 

Martha's  Vineyard,  Mass.,  51. 

Mason,  O.  T.,  30. 

Massacre,  125. 

Massasoit,  108. 

Matthews,  W.,  153,  154. 

Matting,  10. 

MAYA,  215  et  seq. 

McElmo  Canon,  181. 

Meal :  acorn,  203 ;  sacred,  90. 

Measure,  arrow,  50. 

Medicinal  liquid,  133. 

Medicine,  80. 

Medicine  man,  33,  80  et  seq.;  per 
formances,  83;  tested,  84. 

Memory  helps,  66,  75. 

Mendoza,  73. 

Mesa,  161. 

Mescal,  204. 

Metate,  167,  180. 

Mexico,  27,  39,  55,  71,  135, 136, 175. 
206,  208  et  seq.,  215. 

Micaui,  66. 

Mike,  131. 

Milky  Way,  38. 

Mission  Indians,  201,  206  et  seq. 

Mission  work,  227. 

Missionaries,  197. 

Mississippi  Valley,  97. 


238 


INDEX. 


Missouri  River,  148,  150,  153. 

Missouri  Valley,  97. 

Moccasin  game,  28. 

Moccasins,  19,  108. 

MOHAWK,  2,  116,  118,  119. 

Mohawk  River,  no. 

MOHICAN,  116. 

MOKI,  20,  85,  90,  91  ,161,  1 68  et  seq., 

181. 

Money,  73  et  seq. 
Monoliths,  218. 
Moiitezmna,  209. 
Morgan,  L.  H.,  14. 
Morning  Star,  37,  137. 
Morton,  T.,  74. 
Mound  builders,  99  et  seq. 
Mounds,  98  et  seq. 
Mourning,  97,  196. 
M^teouliti)  84. 
Mummies,  96,  180. 
Museum,  National — Mexico,  213. 
Museum,  National  —  United  States, 

154- 

Music,  86. 

Musical  instruments,  86,  213. 

MUSKOKI  (see  CREEK). 

Mutilation  —  self,  97. 

Mystery,  80. 

Mystery  men,  66,  80,  84. 

Nanabush,  1 1 2. 
Nashville,  103. 
NATCHEZ,  223. 
NAVAJO,  21,  78,  91,  109. 
Neckrings,  17. 
Neeskotting,  51. 
Nekihtlas,  189,  190,  191. 
Nets,  for  rabbits,  49. 
Newark,  Ohio,  100. 
New  Brunswick,  108. 
New  England,  2,  4,  32,  74. 
New  Fire,  133. 

New    Mexico,    77,     161,    162,    I7C, 
I78. 


New  Spain,  206. 

New  York,  2,  108,  115. 

Niagara,  127,  128. 

Niagara  River,  116. 

Niblack,  A.  P.,  195,  201. 

North,  Lieut.,  140. 

North  Carolina,  52,  140,  143. 

Northwest  Coast,  4,  21,  50,  52,  80, 

86,  181  et  seq.,  189  et  seq.,  195  et 

seq. 

Notched  rattles,  86. 
Nova  Scotia,  32,  108. 

Objects  buried  with    dead,  93,   94, 

105. 

Obsidian,  210. 
Offerings  to  gods,  91. 
Oglethorpe,  141. 
Ohio,  99,  101,  106,  107. 
Ohio  River,  126. 
Oil,  1 88. 

OJIBWA,  69,  84,  108,  109,  in. 
Oklahoma,  97,  135. 
Old  Pueblos,  1 76. 
Old  Zufii,  176. 
OMAHA,  155. 

ONEIDA,  116,  117,  118,  119. 
ONONDAGA,  2,  75,  116,  118,  119. 
Onondaga  Lake,  N.  Y.,  118. 
Oolachen,  82,  182,  1 88,  189;  secured, 

191. 

Oraibe,  169. 
Orators,  120. 
Oregon,  95 ;   cradle,  24. 
Ornaments,  17. 
OTOE,  92,  155. 
Ovens,  1 66. 

Pacific  Ocean",  75,  77,  95,  181. 

Paddles,  186. 

Paintings  —  Catlin's,  148  et  seq.,  159, 

160. 

Paintings  on  rocks,  179. 
Palace  at  Palenque,  217. 


INDEX. 


239 


Palenque,  216  et  seq.,  220. 

PANI  =  PAWNEE,  60,  91,  134,  223. 

Paper,  71. 

Paper  bread,  167. 

Papoose,  1 08. 

Papoose  board,  22. 

Pebble-shaped  characters,  221. 

Peet,  S.  D.,  102,  107: 

Pemmican,  57. 

Pennsylvania,  122. 

Peon,  205. 

Physical  type,  182,  201,  215. 

Picture  records,  1 1 1 . 

Picture  writing,  65  et  seq. 

Piercing  lips,  183. 

Pilgrims,  108. 

Pillars,  219. 

PIMA,  59. 

Pittsburg,  Pa.,  126. 

Plains  Indians,    13,  42,  47,  59,  60, 

109,  134,  136,  155. 
Plaster,  211,  217. 
Playground,  130,  132. 
Plaza,  171,  172,  173,  175. 
Pleiades,  story  of,  31. 
Pocahontas,  108. 
Points,  in  blankets,  79. 
Points  of  compass,  89,  90. 

PONKA,  96,   155. 

Port  Simpson,  223. 

Posts,  carved,  185,  195  et  seq.;  kinds 

of,  195. 

Pottery,  136,  144,  1 80. 
Powell,  J.  W.,  3,  7,  210. 
Powell's  Linguistic  Map,  3. 
Powers,  S.,  14,  76. 
Powhatan,  108. 
Prayer,  160,  175. 
Prayer  sticks,  90,  170. 
Printed  sign-language,  65. 
Prisoners  of  war,  45,  212. 
Proclamation  of  Gen.  Scott,  142. 
Public  Square,  130. 
PUEBLOS,  6,  21,  76,  87,  88,  90,  91, 


161  et  seq.,  168,169,176,  180, 181; 

dress,  20;  cradle,  27;  game  drives, 

48;   scalps,  44. 
Pump  drill,  78. 
Purification,  88,  156. 
Puskita,  133. 
Putnam,  F.  W.,  101,  107. 
Pyramids,  211. 

Queen  Charlotte  Islands,  79,  82,  95, 

195,  223. 
Quills  —  porcupine,  18. 

Rabbit  sticks,  49. 

Rackets  (see  Ball-sticks). 

Rain  dances,  88. 

Ramona,  202. 

Rattles,  86. 

Rattlesnakes,  1 70  et  seq. 

Raven  stories,  189  et  seq. 

Red  Jacket,  120,  225. 

Red  Score,  in. 

Relics,  1 80. 

Reservations,  225. 

Rio  Grande,  77,  165,  169,  178. 

Rock  Paintings,  179. 

Rocky  Mountains,  1 08,  1 1 2. 

Roof  comb,  217. 

Ruins,  175  et  seq.,  21 6  et  seq. ;  types, 

176. 

Running  the  gauntlet,  45. 
Rushing  Eagle,  153. 
Russians,  197. 

Sacred  colors,  91. 

Sacred  meal,  90. 

Sacred  numbers,  84,  89. 

Sacred  tree,  157. 

Sacrifice,  137,  213. 

Sacrificial  stone,  213. 

SAC  AND  Fox,  54,  56,  66;  cradle,  22; 
dress,  17;  games,  28;  graves,  93, 
94,  97;  hammock,  25;  house,  9; 
moccasins,  19. 


240 


INDEX. 


Salmon,  51,  182,  188. 

Sand  altar,  91. 

Sandals,  180,  210. 

San  Diego,  Cal.,  207. 

San  Dionisio,  Mex.,  206. 

San  Francisco,  Cal.,  207. 

San  Gabriel,  Cal.,  202. 

SANTEE  (Sioux),  155. 

Santo  Domingo,  N.  M.,  6. 

SAPONIE,  119. 

Scaffold  burial,  97. 

Scalp,  1 6,  44. 

Scalp  dance,  87. 

Scalping,  44. 

Scar-face,  story  of,  35. 

Schoolcraft,  H.  R.,  69. 

Schools,  227. 

Scott,  Gen.  W.,  142. 

Scouts,  Pani,  140. 

Scraper  for  dressing  skins,  15. 

Scratcher,  89,  145. 

Screaming  of  medicine  man,  83. 

Scum-cakes,  210. 

Seaver,  J.  E.,  128. 

Seaweed,  188. 

Secret  Societies,  85. 

SENECA,  2,  116,  118,  119. 

SENEL,  95. 

Seqtwyah,  146. 

Serpent  mound,  101. 

Servants,  137. 

Shag,  191. 

Shaman,  80,  95,  96. 

SHAWNEE,  107,  124. 

Shell  money,  75. 

Shenanjie,  126. 

Shields,  211. 

Shonko,  151. 

SHOSHONE,  169;  sign  for,  64. 

Signals,  fire,  59. 

Sign  language,  60  et  seq, 

Signs,  examples  of,  60,  61,  62,  63,  64. 

Sinking  into  ground,  83. 

Siouan,9i,  97,  155. 


Sioux,  25,  44,  49,  60,  66,  67,  69, 
138  et  seq.,  150,  151,  155  et  seq., 
224. 

Sipapu,  171. 

SlSSETON  (SlOUX),   155. 

Six  Nations,  119. 

Skidgate,  223. 

Skil,  187,  197,  -200. 

Skimming  sticks,  28. 

Skins,  dressing,  14,  48. 

Skirt,  17,  21. 

Skowl,  197. 

Skunk,  sign  for,  63. 

Smith,  E.  A.,  38. 

Smoke,  90,  98. 

Smoking,  34,  113. 

Smoke  signals,  59. 

Snake,  170. 

Snake  Dance,  85,   88,  90,  91,   168 

et  seq. 

Snake  hunt,  170. 
Snake  society,  173. 
Snake  washing,  171. 
Societies,  secret:  antelope,  85,  171, 

172,  175;   snake,  85,  173. 
Soul  bone,  83. 

Southern  States,  27,30,  50,  52. 
Spain,  206. 
Spear-thrower,  21 1. 
Speech:    of    Pani,    221;     of    Red 

Jacket,  120;   of  Sioux,  152. 
Spinning,  210. 
Spirits,  80. 
Squaw,  1 08. 
Squaw  money,  76. 
Squier,  E.  G.,  107. 
Stalking  animals,  48. 
Star,  Hill  of  the,  55, 
Stephens,  J.  L.,  216. 
Stocks,  linguistic,  2. 
Stone  Age  Culture,  106. 
Stone  boiling,  57,  186,  1 88. 
Stone  graves,  93,  103. 
Stone  tools,  86,  177,  180,  186. 


INDEX. 


24I 


Stories,   189  et  seq. ;   Algonkin,  32; 

Blackfoot,  35;    Hunter  and  bears, 

198;    Iroquois,  31. 
Story-telling,  113,  114. 
Stucco,  217. 
Succotash,  56. 
Sun,  38. 

Sun  dance,  88,  150,  \$$etseq. 
Superstition  regarding  portraits,  150 

et  seq. 

Sweat  baths,  132. 
Syllabary,  Cherokee,  146  et  seq. 
Sympathetic  magic,  88. 

Tabasco,  215. 
Tablet  of  the  Cross,  218. 
Tablet  of  the  sun,  218. 
Tablets  —  of  stone,  217,  22O. 
Tambourines,  86. 
Taos,  162,  1 66,  169. 
Taos  River,  162. 
Tattooing,  184. 
TECPANECAN,  209. 
Temples,  211,  217,  219. 
Temple  of  beau  relief,  217. 
Temple  of  Tigers,  219. 
Tennessee,  93,  103,  140,  143. 

Tenochtitlan,  208,  213. 
Tent,  12. 

Terrace  platforms,  217. 
Test :  for  bravery,  158;   for  liar,  115; 

for  manhood,  129. 
TETON  (Sioux),  155. 

Texcoco,  208,  209. 
Thomas,  C.,  107. 
Three  Bears,  41. 
Threshing,  167. 

Tikal,  220. 

Tiraiva,  136,  137. 

Tlacopan,  209. 

TLINGIT,  79,  95,  96,  182,  187,  189, 

192,  195,  197,  198,  199. 
Tobacco,  90. 
TONKA  WAY,  60,  87,  134,  223. 


Torture :    of  prisoners,   45 ;   of  self, 

159,  1 60,  220. 
Totem,  95,  98,    in,   184,  186,  197, 

198;   rights  and  privileges,  199. 
Totem  posts,  195  et  seq. 
Towns  —  white  and  red,  129;   peace 

and  war,  129. 
Town  square,  171. 
Transformation,  34. 
Trapping,  48. 
Tree  burial,  97. 
Tribes  of  Indians,  2. 
Tribute,  209. 

TSHIMPSHIAN,  182,  187,  192. 
Turquoise,  77. 

TUSCARORA,  1 1 8,  119. 
TUTELO,   119. 

Types  of  Indians,  I. 

Umane,  156. 
UNCPAPA  (Sioux),  151. 
Utah,  175. 
UTE,  109. 

Vancouver  Island,  181,  183,  190. 

Van  Syce,  127. 

Vices,  introduced,  224. 

Villages,  9,  184. 

Virginia,  108. 

WAHPETON  (Sioux),  155. 

Waist,  210. 

Waiting  outside  a  village,  38. 

Wakantanka,  156. 

Walum  Oluni,  in. 

Wall  decoration,  211. 

Walpi,  169. 

Wampampeog,  74. 

Wampum,  73,  108. 

Wampum  belts,  66,  74. 

War,  39  et  seq.,  138  et  seq.,  211, 

War  drink,  132. 

War  feathers,  43. 

Warriors,  211 ;   dress,  2 1 1. 


242 

Washing  snakes,  171. 

Water 'craft,  52. 

Weapons,  21 1. 

Weaving,  20,  169,  179,  186,  2IO. 

WICHITA,  134. 

Wigwam,  108. 

Wild  rice,  109. 

William  and  Mary,  The,  122. 

Windows,  163,  164. 

WlNNEBAGO,  107,  155. 

Winnowing,  168. 
Wisconsin,  102,  103,  107. 
Woman  among  Indians,  4. 
Women,  dress,  17. 
Wyoming,  Pa.,  147. 


\ 
INDEX. 


Xenia,  Ohio,  99. 

YANKTON  (Sioux),  155. 
YANKTONNAIS  (Sioux),  i55 
Yarn,  1 80. 
Yarrow,  H.  C,  98. 
Yellowstone  River,  150. 
Yetly  189  etseq. 
Young,  E.  R.,  83. 
Yucatan,  215  etseq.,  216. 

Zizania,  109. 

Zuni,  89,  90,  161,  162,  176. 

Zufiian,  3. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 

FORM  NO.  DD6,  60m,  1/83  BERKELEY,  CA  94720 

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YB  3474* 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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